Assassination?
by Tandtroll
Summary: Harry Potter crossover He is far away from home on a mission gone wrong. The road back home is a bumpy one for a young Hatake Kakashi
1. Chapter 1

Original A/N: Yo! This is just a short note, I won't keep those interested from reading my story (it's brand new ), I'd just like to ask you to please mention if you see any errors in the language since this is a field in which I would like to develop (and my English teacher ain't that good…). Anyways, this is my first attempt at writing Naruto, Harry Potter or crossover fiction of any kind, so please; enjoy!

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters, settings and objects are the intellectual property of their respective copyright holders, no profit is made from this story and no infringement is intended.

**Chapter 1**

The Hokage's office was neat, clean and spotless. The Sandaime Hokage himself sat leaned over his desk, rubbing his temples. This was a risky mission, nothing he normally would have sent a single ANBU-operative on, but a team. The payment, though, was overwhelming; in fact it was the largest payment he'd ever heard of. And frankly, Konoha needed the money. There were no ninjas to spare, sure, the peace treaties signed by the Fourth still held, but the village was in a vulnerable state, and had been since the attack of the Kyuubi little over a year ago. They were under constant threat of war from other villages that would, without a doubt, attack if they knew just _how_ bad their predicament was.

"ANBU Wolf," the short ANBU officer in the middle of the room immediately snapped to attention.

"Under normal circumstances this mission would have required a full four- man cell, but you are aware of the state of our village. This is an A-, possibly S- ranked mission, basic instructions are simple, locate target, and assassinate," he handed a scroll and a plain, black backpack to the waiting Wolf.

"Specific instructions and equipment," the Hokage said. The ANBU turned to leave but stopped as the Hokage spoke again.

"Oh, I almost forgot," as Wolf turned around a giant, ink- black owl landed on his shoulder with a flutter of wings. The bird was so large it could barely fit one of its feet on his shoulder; the other foot clung to the black fabric on the sleeve of his ANBU uniform. Wolf had to fight to hide his surprise, which seemed to highly amuse the Sandaime Hokage behind his desk.

"You'll need her to pass the dimensional gap." This time the ANBU went rigid. The gap? No one had passed it for many years, the last time it was heard of was nearly twenty years ago, the then not yet Hokage Namikaze Minato had apparently returned only a few minutes later, complaining about the bad smell and the far too great amount of people. Knowledge of the world beyond the gap was practically nonexistent. But Wolf was a ninja, a tool. He would not complain.

* * *

The gap is not the space between two dimensions; not really, it is more like a crack in the substance a dimension is made of (whatever that is), a crack that successfully cut the two parts away from each other, causing the worlds to alter slightly.

* * *

ANBU Wolf, aka Hatake Kakashi, checked over his equipment one last time. Along with standard mission supplies, (such as soldier pills, a reasonable amount of food and water, an almost bizarre amount of shuriken and kunais, a first aid kit, his father's tantō and a few other knick-knacks) he now also carried tickets for something called a "flight" that apparently was going to take him around half the world on the other side, a passport declaring that was nineteen year old Goto Morinaga, student in and citizen of a country called "Japan" and a somewhat large amount of currency split up in different forms. He looked up at the owl that sat on the lowest branch of a nearby tree. Kakashi removed his ANBU mask for a second, adjusted the hitai-ate he wore underneath in order to cover his left eye better, and replaced the gleaming white mask. He henged into the scrawny, bespecled shape of Morinaga and glanced at the bird again.

Had she been inclined to care, the owl might have given a comforting hoot for the (to her sharp eyes and ears) obviously anxious youth. She didn't, though.

A croak that would have better suited one of Jiraya-sama's toads emitted from the great owl as it swooped down past Kakashi. He followed the black shape between the trees to the place where (according to his map) the gap would be located.

He was actually disappointed when they after less than a minute reached the spot. He had at least expected a sign or a gate or something, the only thing he could see that looked remotely strange (okay, it looked _very _strange) was the fact that everything on top of a small line (it looked like someone had drawn it on the ground with a stick) seemed to have been cut in two and then been not quite accurately glued back together. The bird passed the line without a problem and the seemingly skinny, blemished, Japanese teenager got into a run (that for a ninja would have been considered slow), to keep up with the bird. At first he only felt a tingling sensation as he crossed the line. Then, suddenly, everything turned black. _No_ not really black, the space around him became… empty.

Since the death of his sensei nearly one and a half year ago he had… well, _prided_ himself in not being fazed by anything. Ninjas should not _show_ emotion, but for these past months he had, it seemed, being unable to even _feel_ any. Not even when he stood alone before the memorial stone could he make himself truly feel.

But now, now he was afraid. It was something deeply _wrong_ with this. He could still see the owl soaring only one or two short steps ahead of him as he ran. Clear as day, and he could still feel the pounding of his feet against the ground, but the empty blackness around him swallowed everything else. He felt disturbingly light, as if the weight of the air and atmosphere above had lifted away. He also felt alone. Not that _that_ particular feeling was new to him. But he had never truly felt so cut off.

Now he understood what Sandaime Hokage-sama had meant when he said that he'd need the bird to pass the gap. Without her he would have been completely lost. Despite the total emptiness around them she had a clear heading. How she did it without any kind of references except the force that kept them from soaring away as down, Kakashi had no clue. Right now he wasn't that interested either.

The first thing that returned was the smell. The fact that he possessed the inhuman senses of the Hatake clan did not make it any better. It felt like he was choking. The smoky, acrid stench was something he had only scented once before, but could clearly remember. It was the smell of exhaust fumes from a car.

* * *

Five year old Hatake Kakashi walked beside his father along the festively decorated main street of Konohagakure no Sato. On the outside he looked like a chibi version of the White Fang himself, though he still lacked the forehead-plate with the leaf insignia. Kakashi held his expression cold, doing everything possible to look as unfazed by the festivities around him as the older ninja. Inside he was almost bursting with happiness, he wanted to hold his father's hand, bounce with excitement and exclaim over all the magnificent sights around him, like the other children. But he kept all of it inside. Being to an event like this with his father was almost a matter of celebration in itself.

Both Hatakes wrinkled their noses in identical expressions when they smelled it. The roar of a well kept engine was heard and Kakashi could no longer keep his excitement inside. He had heard of cars, one of the kids in the academy (three years older than Kakashi, but still) even had a small model of one. Kakashi had never dared to approach him to take a closer look, but he had secretly admired the toy from afar.

His own father would never have considered giving his son such a gift, for as long as Kakashi could remember he had always been given shuriken or kunai for his birthday, along with the promise of further training in the use of them. He actually owned a ragged teddy bear, but was quite sure that it was a remnant from his mother; who had been killed during a mission. He had been too young to remember anything about her.

The young feudal lord of the Country of Fire roared the engine of his sleek black vehicle. Rumour had it that it had been transported all the way from the land of Snow. When he turned onto the main street he couldn't keep himself from showing off, despite his advisors earlier dissuasions. Damn those boring old geezers. He roared the engine one last time before stepping on the gas pedal, accelerating disturbingly fast. The car disappeared behind houses as the street curved slightly, leaving a stunned crowd of people behind along with two silver- haired Hatakes choking in the exhaust. Luckily Konoha's Yellow Flash had caught up with the speed blinded young lord before he could seriously harm anyone. He had been forced to stay at Konoha's hospital up until two weeks after the incident.

Apparently cars were more fragile, and more easily manipulated by forces from the side, than Kakashi's soon to be sensei had thought.

* * *

The concentration of gas in the air was many times thousand of what it had been back then, making the young ANBU feel dizzy. Mere seconds after the smell came everything else in an explosion of light and noise. Wolf thought it a miracle that he himself didn't explode. Someone immediately bumped into his shoulder and yelled something about looking out, disappearing in the massive sea of people before he had even had time to recover from the shock of being out of the darkness. All around him rose giant steel and glass contraptions and the roar from the traffic of cars on the part of the road that seemed intended for them overwhelmed his sensitive ears. His surprise was still big, though not as much as from all of the other new revelations the world on this other side of the gap had brought, when he realised that the sun stood much lower in the sky. It was still rising here, either the time was a few hours behind here or, if both sides of the gap lay equally in time he'd been running through the gap for something like twenty hours (though it had seemed to be about five minutes). He shuddered at the thought and then realized if that was the case he'd missed his flight with half a day. He found a newsstand not far away and read with relief that it still was the third of September, which indeed also was the date stated on his plane ticket. All around him people in formal looking suits chattered into small handheld devices, only adding to the great cacophony of noise. So this was Tokyo, Japan.

ANBU Wolf looked around one last time, realized that the owl was nowhere to be seen, and began his search for something called an "airport".

* * *

Relief washed over him as he after several hours finally could relax into his seat at the airplane, feeling that nothing this world could bring would surprise him anymore. Thank Kami he at least knew the language; he would never have reached this far without being able to ask for directions, hurting his pride as an ANBU in the process. Wolf barely dared to think of how it would be when he arrived in England; he had deliberately _not_ learnt the language to make interrogation more difficult if he were to be captured (not that he intended to). He was starting to regret his decision.

The masses of people out in the streets had decreased drastically after barely an hour, but had instead been replaced by a heat almost impossible to endure. Sure Konoha had warmth all year around but to this place even Suna in the middle of the desert fell behind. Somehow the massive glass buildings reflected the light, as well as the heat, concentrating it, making it spread all around along with heating the asphalted ground, making heat radiate (along with sharp fumes) from below. Needless to say the cooled air in the plane felt like a god-given gift. He had never expected this mission to be so exhausting before he even reached the right _country_.

Wolf had been annoyed when he discovered that you not only had to show your personal identification but also pass through a metal detector. He had no idea if the guards here were able to detect chakra and therefore see through a regular bunshin, or if they could dispel genjutsus. And he had no intention _what so ever _to leave his weapons behind. After a few moments of watching he had learnt that they only actually touched you or your belongings if you set of the annoyingly beeping metal detector. He stepped around a corner and hid out of sight behind an automat from which you could buy soda (to his surprise there was brands of soda here that he recognised from Konoha, apparently Coca-Cola was interdimensional…). He quickly created a simple bunshin, a Kage Bunshin was out question since it would still set of the alarms, and he figured that the other types of clone techniques he knew would leave to much traces behind, and they were a lot more chakra consuming. He only hoped that no one would bump into the clone, realizing it was not really there.

His bunshin passed the control without any issues and when Wolf was sure it had passed he performed a simple body-flicker and disbanded the clone. Even more annoying than the metal detector was the camera that snapped your picture when you passed through the scan, so that they had a picture-proof of everyone who had actually passed it. The ANBU-operative was fairly certain that the people had no idea that their picture was taken, but had with noted with satisfaction that his clone set of the camera as it passed. Had that little feature not been built in Wolf would've simply snuck past the control, and not being forced to the chakra waste of creating a clone in the first place.

The past hours of being overwhelmed by this not-entirely-new dimension along with lack of nourishment and the long time he'd maintained his disguise was starting to tear at his reserves. He was pleased to hear that warm meals would be served during the fourteen hour long flight, though he doubted that he'd be able to get much rest. Beside the tension he already felt about soon being trapped inside this can of a plane ten thousand feet in the air, a baby had started to scream in a heart- tearing way only a couple of seats away.

ANBU Wolf took the encoded mission description out of his backpack and checked over the information again. The place where to find his target was a school labelled "Hogwarts", located in "Scotland, Great Britain", coordinates were provided in the description, target was one "Albus Dumbledore".

* * *

Thanks for reading!

**Note, 11 April 2011:** Revisions have begun! Only minor changes in this chapter, please let me know if you find errors.


	2. Chapter 2

Original A/N: YAY! New chapter! Don't really have anything to say so… On with the story!

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters, settings and objects are the intellectual property of their respective copyright holders, no profit is made from this story and no infringement is intended.

**Chapter 2**

As the cabin door opened the pilot bid them goodnight in, an at best limping, Japanese ANBU Wolf followed the stream of babbling tourists. He could hear a young woman to his left go on and on about visiting the famous white, globe shaped arena and could barely hold back a snide comment. She was in the completely wrong city to visit that building, not to mention _country_. That "globe" was located in Stockholm; Wolf had entertained himself during the past hours by thoroughly reading through every tourist brochures found in the compartment in front of him. So among other things, beside what monumental buildings were located in Sweden, he had also learned things like the height of the Eiffel tower in Paris (321 meters), that the French ate snails and that Switzerland was famous for chocolate. There was apparently also some sort of event in Spain where people would go out in the streets and cover _everything_ in tomatoes.

Yes, he had decided. People this side of the gap were mad.

Heathrow airport was like a huge, empty, echoing monument of long halls, at least at 00.20 am, which was the time when Wolf _finally_ managed to distance himself from the mob of tourists. Then he realised that he had nowhere to stay, couldn't read the signs, and couldn't _under any circumstances_ allow himself to draw attention by asking strange questions (and really, tourist were, as a general rule, stupid, but what tourist was stupid enough to not learn a bit of the language, not carry some sort of dictionary and _not_ pre-book a hotel?). So he snuck back to join the chattering herd and their newly-acquired guide, who was right then explaining that they would soon all travel together to a quaint hotel on the brink between suburb and city.

ANBU Wolf completed his disguise as a Japanese tourist with a monstrous camera hanging around his neck (how the masses of tourists actually managed to walk around with the things without breaking anything vital was beyond him), as an overweight, balding man left his luggage unattended for a moment. Wolf also grabbed a nondescript bag from the conveyor belt, as his small backback would no doubt garner attention if left without companion. His own things were actually neatly stored in sealed scrolls, which usually made bags and such superfluous. Since this was a large mission in unknown terrain, though, he had brought quite a lot more than usual.

Wolf had climbed into the crammed bus that would drive them to the not-too-expensive, popular hotel. Upon arriving he was informed that the place was full, but after a while of (according to Wolf) skilful acting, begging, and offering ridiculous amounts of money for a small hotel room, the receptionists gave him one. Too bad really that he was getting too old (and his disguise was without a doubt too far along in years) for the sniffling, pouty-puppy eyed 'please I'm just a kid pleeeaaase' act. At almost fourteen-but small for his age he could still pull it off if he wore his own looks. Demeaning as it was it definitely had its uses.

While Wolf walked up the stairs feeling quite a bit satisfied with his performance as a desperate teenage student, the lobby staff pondered about the unusually cold and sophisticated one.

* * *

Finally alone in his room he dumped his backpack on a small table, put the 'borrowed' suitcase in a corner and released his henge with a sigh before taking a shower. He was glad that he had managed to get a hotel room, showers and real beds were a rarity on these types of missions. Okay, it was a rarity on practically _all_ missions - and this one was unique, there were not any others he'd heard of that involved the dimensional gap.

With his silver hair still wet from the shower he sat down in the chair. It was a bit too puffy and soft to be comfortable, he thought, and pulled out the mission description, a simple pen and a map from his bag, putting them on the low table in front of him.

This was when the problems started.

Despite his efforts he seemed to be unable to pinpoint the coordinates on the map, when he tried to put down a dot he marked it in the completely wrong place. After many attempts he was starting to question his eyesight, perhaps it was something wrong with it and he had miscalculated the impressions? He _had_ after all skipped his last scheduled check up… but, his aim with shuriken and kunai was still impeccable, he noted after he'd tested it using a hideous painting on the wall above the bed. No, something else was amiss. He even used the sharingan, trying to see if it was some kind of elaborate genjutsu, but there was nothing.

He finally managed to mark out a spot a few miles to the southwest of where Hogwarts castle supposedly was before laying down fully clothed in his ANBU uniform and falling into a light sleep.

* * *

A railroad. There was a railroad. Wolf felt better than he'd done in a long time as he hurried along the tracks. Not only did this world seem to completely lack shinobi presence, but there was also a railroad that provided him with an excellent, completely obstacle free trail to follow, leading straight to a village that apparently was located not too far from Hogwarts. Though it did irritate the ANBU captain quite a bit that it was only luck that had presented him with this opportunity - He had accidentally overheard two middle aged woman, one who was clearly British wearing business clothes, trying to explain how English children travelled to school in a broken Japanese while the oddly dressed Asian woman seemed to be completely lost, not understanding a bit. Good thing ANBU Wolf did.

The solid looking brick pillar had not presented any problems; it was a quite inventive but still very basic genjutsu, so easy to recognise that the young ANBU-operative had barely realized it was there. It was only an illusion, nothing more than air. The woman had told the other that the entrance to 'platform nine and three quarters' would be open only when a train was due to leave, and apparently there was trains scheduled to leave for 'Hogsmeade' on a regular basis two times a week. Thankfully a departing train would leave this Wednesday at three pm. It was eleven am when Kakashi went through the opening. He snuck past the thin crowd and then proceeding hidden from view along the tracks until he was out of sight; then he stepped onto the tracks and set a swift, running pace.

The revelation of the genjutsu had put him on guard at first, but surveying it with the sharingan revealed no traces of chakra. What so ever. Calmed by the obvious absence of shinobi he became curious about how someone had managed to perform the technique without using any chakra. But he soon pushed his thoughts away; he had a mission to accomplish.

Upon reaching the small train station he ignored the small village and headed into the woods. He had used the sun as reference to place his current position on the map, thus knowing which way he was to travel to reach Hogwarts.

Heading through the thick undergrowth he dropped his disguise and was glad that the client had described where in the school the Headmasters office was located, as far as he understood the school was a massive castle. Kakashi was right. The castle soon came into view and he positioned himself on a branch high up in a pine-tree, ready to wait for sunset, his dark ANBU uniform giving additional disguise in the shadows.

The ANBU captain's first thought when he took a closer look at the castle was that he'd been tricked. The place was in complete ruin. What looked like it had once been a magnificent castle was now only crumbling stone walls and rotting beams, on a few places there were still bits and pieces of ceilings, higher floors and arches standing, looking like they were ready to fall down on any unsuspecting visitor, creating a lethal trap. This did most definitely _not_ look like a school harbouring hundreds of students. A huge sign was positioned above the (surprisingly still standing) main doors. He was unable to read it since it seemed to be written in English, but he guessed it was warning about the danger of being crushed beneath collapsing masonry.

His first instinct was to call the whole mission of and return home, since they had been obviously deceived, then it hit him that he would be incapable of returning since the client had provided the means of coming here in the first place.

And then he remembered the platform at King's Cross station. The genjutsu. If this entire place was hidden by an extremely powerful illusion of that kind someone had done a _very_ good job. There were no signs of it what so ever and there was no way for Wolf to dispel something like this on his own.

Maybe he really _should_ leave. Yes, Konoha was in a precautious political situation. It wouldn't do to be stuck in another world when he could be home and useful. Besides, he had to visit the memorial stone.

Kakashi backtracked, hadn't he just established that he likely had _not_ been deceived?

But perhaps... well, he did have laundry to do, and he really ought to return that suitcase and sharpen his kunai and-

That was it! It was not only a perceptive-warping illusion, but one that affected the mind as well!

He removed his wolf mask, pulled up his hitai-ate slightly and opened his left eye, the three dots in the iris twirling slightly as he closed the right eye and the world around him transformed. Instead of crumbling walls a high castle now rose on the shore of the glassy lake. Children around the age of ten or eleven were currently following a short, heavy woman towards the low shapes of greenhouses in the distance. Out on the fields and the lakeshore were people, seemingly between the ages of ten to just below twenty, playing games, studying books and some just enjoying the sunny weather and summer warmth. Wolf resumed his high seat in the tree, closed his sharingan – it felt quite unnerving to shut off his only way to see the people in the school grounds, but it would do him no good to be weakened by excessive use of it tonight. He henged into a small bird and sat back for a long, boring, wait until nightfall.

* * *

The dark castle was silent; all lights had been doused hours ago. The ANBU-operative crept quietly through the corridors towards the Headmaster's office. The private quarters were only accessible through there. His left eye was starting to ache but he ignored it. So far the security of this place had been ridiculous, with only a few adults patrolling corridors at random. Probably to keep the students in bed more than anything else.

He was to say the least startled when the ghosts showed up, his heart speeding at an alarming rate, the sudden faint glow the two emitted when they passed through a wall left him far too visible. But the ghosts were deeply involved in their conversation and paid no attention to the intruding shinobi. He only relaxed a fraction when they had passed through a closed door further down the hallway, and their voices was far out of reach from his sensitive ears.

He took a quick look at the watch on his wrist. 00:01. He froze again when he realised what date it had just become. Obito's birthday. The lack of emotion inside of him was so great it almost hurt. He could not understand why the sadness had gone. For a moment he actually wanted to feel.

* * *

Ten year old Kakashi stared lazily at his sensei's back as Minato finished tying up the banner that read "Happy Birthday Obito", in an almost painful mix of strong colours. Kakashi could not for his life understand the great fuzz about birthdays. Sure it was the day you were born. And? It was still just a day like any other. His now deceased father had presented him with gifts consistent of sharp, pointy objects as long as he could remember and later on Sensei had taken him out to dinner every year, giving him only small gifts. The great Yellow Flash had strongly suspected that Kakashi would _not_ appreciate a party.

Now they were at Sensei's apartment fixing the final decorations while Rin finished up in the kitchen (Minato couldn't cook anything but instant ramen if his life depended on it), and they awaited Obito's arrival.

Kakashi had wrapped his gift (a bag of candy…) in a hideous, screechy orange wrapping paper Sensei had picked out. He didn't say anything but he was childishly proud that his present (despite the colour) was the one best wrapped, even Rin, the aspiring medic-nin with all her control and perfectionist-tendencies' present didn't look as good.

Ten minutes after Obito was supposed to arrive an out-of breath chuunin appeared at the door, and told them to immediately report at the Hokage's office. Sensei had grabbed the cake and their presents and they left together.

The whole affair had ended with the four of them sitting together in a clearing littered with dead bodies of enemy-nins, eating cake (how it had survived the battle was a mystery still to be solved) with their bare hands in the moonlight beside a small stream, for one evening completely unaware of the war raging between the hidden villages.

* * *

Wolf finally spotted the statue which was supposed to hide the entrance to the office. All his senses were strained to their considerable limits to discover if anyone was approaching. Completely focused on the statue down the hall his foot accidentally brushed a polished stick lying on the ground. The stick immediately turned into a long, thin, rubber rooster, tangling around the ANBU's legs in the process, tripping him. Wolf landed on the cold stone floor with a thud and a clatter when the shuriken in his hand hit the floor. He looked up just in time to see a man in black robes jump out from behind the statue, yell something and point a stick at him. A red flash coming from the end of the stick hitting him straight in the face. His ANBU mask cracked and he felt his body go numb before he slipped into black oblivion.

He, Wolf, Hatake Kakashi, genius, prodigy, ANBU captain and shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato had been defeated. By a toy.

* * *

**Note 11 april 2011:** minor changes and some additions.

Hope you enjoy!


	3. Chapter 3

Original A/N: NEW CHAPTER! Hehe… I just love school breaks! Gives me time to write :D

Thanks to those who reviewed, those things are what keep me going!

Disclaimer: All recognisable characters, settings and objects are the intellectual property of their respective copyright holders, no profit is made from this story and no infringement is intended.

**Chapter 3**

"He is only a boy, Albus," Professor Minerva McGonagall stated. She looked over the black clad figure lying prone on the thick mat covering the floor in the Headmaster's office. He was still knocked out by her spell and would not wake for a few more hours.

"A boy who sneaks into a school at night with the intention to kill, Minerva," the Headmaster himself retorted.

"You don't know that!" a hint of desperation was heard in the voice of the usually stern, grey haired professor. Dumbledore handed her a folder in brown paper. She opened it and looked at the contents, sighing when she was unable to decipher the writing.

"What does it say?" she asked. "I am not that familiar with Japanese."

"It is a part of an encrypted contract of assassination. There are several pages missing, no doubt removed so that we would not get them if he were to be captured. This particular page contains the coordinates of Hogwarts and detailed instructions how to reach this very office."

"But who would have targeted _you_?" the deputy headmistress asked with a small gasp. Had this been a few decades ago she may not have been surprised, but now? The only one she could think of who would have the audacity to make an attempt on the life of the (generally acknowledged) most powerful wizard since the Founders, and possibly Merlin himself, would surely send his own minions to do the work?

"I have many enemies, Minerva," he answered with a heavy sigh. "Which one who hired a _child_ to take me out we will have to find out when he wakes," he continued with a nod towards the white haired boy on the carpet. "What worries me the most is how he managed to get past all of our security precautions. Will you be so kind to notify Severus and ask him to bring some veritaserum along? I will remain with our intruder."

Minerva threw a last glance on the boy, the _assassin_, silently wondering what he'd been through. He was no older than the students at this school, younger than most of them, by the looks of it. And he was sent out to commit _murder_. He had no doubt been through a lot in his short life, she thought, looking at the deep scar crossing his left eye. She cast another glance at Albus Dumbledore as she left through the door. He looked so tired and worn, nothing like the strong leader she had come to know so many years ago.

* * *

Wolf slowly opened his right eye, both out of habit to keep the left closed and to preserve energy. He was sitting on a rock in the middle of the castle ruins. The sun had still not reached the horizon. But somehow it was as warm as if he was sitting in a heated room. He tried to move (and he really needed to water the plants- wait, what plants?- Buy new groceries and feed the neighbour's cat-) but his hands and feet were tied to something and he remembered the genjutsu. Slowly the left eye cracked open as well.

It was the most bizarre thing he had ever witnessed. With his own (in comparison regular) eye he could clearly see that he was sitting alone on top of a stone in the middle of a ruin ready to crumble, but he _knew_ as well as saw with his sharingan that he was in a nice, big room, cluttered with the strangest objects he had ever seen, tied to a chair next to a big fireplace. He had not heard the crackling of the fire until he opened his sharingan, which was disturbing to say the least. He saw three shadows on the floor next to him, closed his right eye and averted his gaze upwards. There were three figures looming above him. His discomfort increased as the effect of whatever they had done to him was starting to wear off, and he noticed that they had removed his thin black half-mask and hitae-ate. The wolf mask lay at the floor beside him, neatly split in two. He was to say the least surprised to find himself in a warm office. He had at expected a dungeon or something of the sort.

* * *

Minerva jolted up from the squishy armchair where she had positioned herself when the teenaged boy began to stir. He was waking up _already_? She had expected him to be completely out of it for at least three more hours. He slowly opened a dark grey eye, perhaps the left was wounded (or missing? She shuddered at the thought) behind that scar of his? She stepped up to him and asked if he was all right. He only stared blankly into the distance, seemingly unaware of his surroundings. Severus and Albus stepped up beside her as the boy fidgeted slightly and opened his other eye. After a few more moments he closed the right and looked up at them. The eye was _red_. An involuntary shiver ran down her spine. Red eyes reminded her far too much of Harry Potter's description of You Kno… _no,_ _Voldemort_, from last year.

"Shall we begin Professor?" Severus asked, and with a nod from Albus he pulled out a small vial of Veritaserum, from which he proceeded to pour a few drops into a cup of water.

* * *

Wolf watched as the black clad one (who greatly needed to wash his hair) poured a strangely odourless, clear liquid into a cup that, by the smell of it, contained regular water. He then pulled out a straight, polished stick which he put against Kakashi's temple. He held the cup towards the ANBU captain's mouth at the same time as Wolf noticed that his hands and arms had been freed. Though he now had full control over his arms and head, the rest of his body was like glued to the chair, and he had no way of getting himself out with three people carrying those sticks around. One of them was, by the looks of him, the one his mission required dead. He had failed, unless...

The one holding the stick to Wolf's temple moved the cup even closer to him, probably wanting him to take it. Wolf yielded and took it from his hands. The greasy haired one said something in English with a threatening tone and the stern woman (Wolf was now quite sure she was the one to knock him out earlier) threw a worried glance at Dumbledore. Since Wolf did not understand what the man had said, probably that he should drink from the cup, and did not have any intention to be obedient he just sat there, biding his time. And feeling the sharingan slowly drain him of power.

After a short argument between the three the woman muttered something and flicked her stick in Wolf's direction, the batlike man with dirty hair then forced the cup to his lips and he drank the whole thing. When the cup was empty he froze, thinking that they had poisoned him, but then he realised that if they had wanted to kill him, they would have done so while he was unconscious. They were going to interrogate him.

Without a seconds hesitation the ceramic cup was crushed in his hands and the resulting shards thrown in the faces of the two who currently had sticks out – the stern faced woman and the younger man. Another moment and the chair was in pieces.

He realised his mistake in believing them to be the bigger threats when he heard the snap of fingers and his entire body was immobilised.

Dumbledore pulled out another chair after pulling out a stick of his own, restoring the splinters underneath Wolf in the process. The ancient Headmaster sat down in front of him as the woman flicked her stick again, removing the dust and shards from herself. She then proceeded to help (the now seething) bat-guy. Dumbledore said something, a question, Wolf figured by the tone. The three looked puzzled, then Dumbledore seemed to get an idea.

"Ah, it's Japanese you're speaking, is it not?" the old man asked in Wolf's native language.

"Yes," _NO_! What was this? Wolf did not want to answer, but his mouth seemed to have a will of its own.

"We gave you a truth serum, a very strong one, that is why you are forced to answer me, and it makes you unable to tell anything but truth," when he saw Wolf's look he added with an amused tone "don't worry, the effects will wear off," he knew that that was not what worried the boy.

"Now, who are you?" Dumbledore asked and thus, the interrogation began

* * *

Wolf felt like killing himself. The last, and only, time he'd been captured and interrogated his blood had been _everywhere_; he'd barely been able to remember his own name because of the pain and he had not spoken a word. Now, he spilled _everything_. He told them about his village, the gap, everything they asked he answered truthfully. He was grateful that they did not dig too deep into anything though, by only relaying the barest minimum he managed to skirt many dangerous topics (thankfully they didn't seem to know all the right questions, either).

The biggest mystery, though, was why he could speak (while only truth) as much as he wished (but no less than they demanded), while his jaws remained locked in place when he intended to bite his tongue.

* * *

"Well, it seems like we are almost done here now…" Dumbledore stated. "But there is one last question; who hired you and when and where are you to receive payment?" To Wolf's surprise they had waited with what would seem to most like the top priority questions to last. But he guessed that it didn't really matter in which order they asked, since there was no risk for the prisoner to break and be completely unable to answer towards the end.

"I was hired by a 'Lord Voldemort'," the ANBU captain said and gritted his teeth, "I am too meet up with one 'Lucius Malfoy' and receive payment when my mission is accomplished."

Dumbledore shot a glance at bat-guy that Kakashi had by now figured was called 'Severus', before he turned back to ANBU Wolf.

"I am sorry, well perhaps not really, but ah… I have to inform you that you and your village have been deceived. Voldemort has recently returned after fourteen years of absence, and when he returned he had practically nothing. The Malfoy family may be rich, but their wealth is not that overwhelming, and even if they and all of Voldemort's followers were to give up all they had they would still be unable to put up with an amount like the one you were promised." He looked Wolf straight into his sharingan - that they had surprisingly not asked anything about, and Wolf briefly thought about hypnotizing him, but all the hours of simply looking through it was beginning to tear severely at him, and he abandoned the idea.

"I would also like to add," Dumbledore continued as Wolf's consciousness began to flicker, he closed his left eye and opened the right. Once again was he now sitting on a rock in the middle of the ruins and the sun was slowly rising above some mountains in the distance. _Damn_, he couldn't do anything about it, if he kept his sharingan open any longer he would soon pass out from chakra exhaustion. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked around, he could not see any of it at all, but he was very certain that he still was in the headmaster's office. _A-, possible S- rank my ass._ Wolf thought. _Anyone without the sharingan or byakugan wouldn't even be able to _see_ the target!_

* * *

Minerva looked at the boy, ANBU Wolf, that was his name, wasn't it? She had not understood much of the past hours of interrogation, but now she was worried. The teenager, Severus had so kindly translated to her that he was thirteen years old, fourteen in about a month, had started to look exhausted and now he had closed his red eye and opened the other. He had also started to stare off into the distance again, seemingly focused on something far beyond the office walls.

Albus put a hand at Wolf's shoulder and shook him gently. The boy seemed be looking right through them when he looked around. He mumbled something and narrowed his dark grey, right eye. The thin scar across his closed left showing clearly in the flickering candlelight. The fire had since long died down to faintly glowing embers.

"He says that he can't see us." Albus translated. Minerva looked at the boy. _Could it be?_ She voiced her suspicion to Dumbledore.

"Could he be a muggle?" she asked, "Perhaps that red eye of his somehow can see through the wards, but then again, if he is muggle, does not this castle simply look like an old, empty ruin to him?"

"Yes but-" Dumbledore began but interrupted himself.

"Is there any way to make him unaffected by the spell that covers Hogwarts but still make the castle look the same to other muggles?" Severus asked in his regular, disdainful voice.

"As a matter of fact there is," Dumbledore said as he stood from his chair and pushed the half-moon shaped glasses a bit higher on his nose. He stalked over to a bookcase further back in the office and pulled out a heavy tome (The title along the spine read "A fool's guide to the wards of Hogwarts, Headmaster's edition".

"Ahh… Here we have it," he said as he stopped flipping through the pages. He mumbled an incantation and made a series of swishing movements with his want before he pointed it at the boy, who immediately lifted his head and started to focus.

Dumbledore put the book back on its shelf and walked over to the others. He sat back in his chair, it was not very comfortable and was beginning to take a toll on his back. He had to admit that he was curious about that red eye, but it would have to wait until another time. This interrogation was starting to tear on all of them.

"You did that?" the magically restrained boy asked.

"I did." Dumbledore said. "Could you still hear me?" he continued.

"No," the assassin answered and shook his head a little. "I lost you at 'I would also like to add'."

"Ah, alright," Dumbledore said and thought back at what he had said. He had spoken some more until he realized that the boy had stopped hearing. "I would also like to add that we are at war with Voldemort. He is a strong enemy with the goal to take over everything. Your world apparently holds power, which is something that he seeks. He will not stop at the borders of this one if he knows how to continue to the next, which he clearly does since he managed to get you here. I would not presume to know how you usually do things, but I believe that this is a war in which your village does not wish to be involved. And I, this school and a very few additional allies are at the moment practically all that stand between Voldemort and victory. If something bad was coming toward your village, I doubt that you would kill off the guards, even if you were paid to do so."

* * *

He was right. Wolf only listened with half an ear as Dumbledore kept talking about the political situation of the world this side of the gap. _Shit_, if he was telling the truth, then this was bad. They should have sent out expeditions to find out more about this side of the gap before they accepted missions that could put them in situations like this.

* * *

Dumbledore concluded his little speech about Voldemort and current politics before looking at the boy, whose face was completely blank, but by the look in his eye he seemed to be thinking hard.

"How do I know if you are telling the truth?" Wolf asked and Dumbledore gave a small smile.

"I guess I'll be drinking some Veritaserum as well, you have already experienced the effects of it and know I won't be able to lie to you." he said and motioned to Severus who handed him the small vial.

"Wait," Wolf said. "Let me smell it first, I want to confirm that it's the same thing you gave me." Severus snorted and smirked condescendingly at the ANBU captain.

"Veritaserum is odourless _boy_."

"Exactly," Wolf answered in a drab tone. Professor Severus Snape looked confused for a moment and Dumbledore almost burst out laughing.

"Then you will not be able to confirm if this really _is_ Veritaserum through smell."

"Yes I will," the young assassin said in the same bored tone, his face completely empty of emotion. "The potion you gave me held a very distinctive odourlessness."

"And what if we've exchanged it with water?" Severus asked, the condescending look back on his face. Their captive looked at him as if he was an idiot.

"Water _smells_."

With that comment Severus couldn't say anything more and Dumbledore, who had watched their little exchange in amusement, uncorked the vial. He held it out for Wolf who nodded. Dumbledore tipped his head back and drank a lot more than was needed of the potion, so that he could prove to Wolf that he had not simply pretended to drink. When the boy confirmed with a nod that he could proceed he cleared his throat.

"All right," he said and began to repeat 'the speech'.

"Stop," the silver haired boy interrupted. "You only have to confirm that everything you've told me so far is true."

"Of course," Dumbledore said and shook his head a bit. He hadn't really thought about that. He then told the boy that, indeed, everything he had stated so far was truthful.

"Do you still intend to kill me?" he asked. "If you are not, we might be able to arrange so that you can have a bit more freedom around the castle. I trust you understand that we cannot set you free."

"I do not intend to take your life anymore," Wolf admitted. "As far as I can judge it would involve too much political risk, and involvement, and as far as I am able to understand the situation, I am quite sure that our village would like to sign a peace treaty with this ministry of yours. I will not do anything until I can receive further instruction from my superiors."

"Very well then," Dumbledore said with a smile. "I will research further about this dimensional 'gap' and see if we can manage to correspond with Konoha. In the meantime we will give you a place to stay here at Hogwarts." He flicked his wand and the bonds holding Wolf was suddenly released, causing him to fall down on the floor. Apparently he was so exhausted that he was unable to get up from the carpet on his own. Minerva stood from the armchair and helped him up.

"Why?" asked the boy and Dumbledore gave him a puzzled look.

"Why what?"

"Why do you not execute me? I am an assassin hired by your enemy." he said, confusion clearly showing on his until now blank features.

"You have said that you will do nothing to harm me anymore, therefore I do not believe that I have anything to fear from you. Besides, I do not believe in killing anyone, not even an enemy, if it can be avoided." He smiled at the boy; he had not led an easy life.

"Minerva here will take you to a room where you will stay. We will not let you out just yet, as I think you can understand. Food will be brought up shortly. Is there anything else you would like for now?"

"A dictionary."

"Done," Dumbledore said and told Minerva where to take the boy and to make sure the house elves brought him enough food and water, and a dictionary. And that she then should try to get some sleep before her first class, along with the promise that he'd tell her everything Mr Hatake had said that evening.

"Wait," said Wolf, stopping on the threshold, "My name is Kakashi."

"Oh?" Dumbledore responded with a (to Kakashi) disturbing twinkle. "Here, have a lemon drop," he said jovially, holding out a plate of yellow candies. ANBU Wolf took one reluctantly, as he had no idea what would be perceived as an insult in this strange place, and he and Minerva continued out the door.

When they had disappeared, hurriedly to not be caught by any early waking students, Dumbledore turned to Snape with a more prominent twinkle in his eyes.

"I guess we can be thankful for once that those Weasley twins litter their joke-junk all over the place."

* * *

**Note 12 April 2011: **Some minor errors cleaned up


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

More than ten reviews and over 600 hits, this is worth celebrating! Yay!

Okay, I can tell you that I won't follow the storyline of the fifth Harry Potter book accurately, and I will probably screw up timelines and such, but hey – it's fanfiction. I'd also like to add that there will probably be some scenes taken almost directly out of the book, and if these are not portrayed accurately, that's because of the fact that I only own the version translated into Swedish… and I'm sorry to say that the translator haven't done such a great job.

Anyway, this is the end of this annoying note so… On with the story!!

* * *

Kakashi sat on the four poster bed positioned in a corner of the surprisingly nice-looking room. There were thick mats covering the cold stone floor, there was a small table with two chairs and an armchair that looked a bit too soft, in front of a coffee table next to the open fireplace. He was exhausted and really needed to rest, but was unable to relax. In front of him he held the English dictionary, without really reading. He would copy the whole thing with the sharingan later. When he was rested.

Anger was rising inside of him. That supposed 'Lord', Voldemort, would be punished. Kakashi would make sure of that. You could not deceive ninjas like that and think that you could walk away unharmed. It was a pity that Konoha was so low of high ranking ninjas at the moment. And a pity that they had no idea how to contact the Sandaime Hokage and inform him of the breach of contract. He threw a glance at the broken ANBU mask lying on the coffee table next to his backpack. It felt odd to see it broken. He had been wearing that mask in countless of missions during the past year, it felt like watching his own face being split in pieces.

Eventually the exhaustion became too great, and Kakashi fell to the side, asleep, half sitting on the side of the bed.

* * *

He awoke to a murmur of voices and sat up groggily, in his mind cursing the fact that the sharingan drained such an amount of chakra and wondering how long he'd been out this time. He noted with surprise that instead of lying half on top of the bed he was now tucked in underneath the covers and that someone had removed his ANBU vest, the armourplates supposed to be strapped to his forearms and the pouches with kunai and shuriken. He quickly located them on the small bedside table and looked up at the two women of people in the middle of the room.

The stern woman from earlier, Minerva, exclaimed something the other woman turned towards the bed. She seemed to be only a bit younger than Minerva and was dressed as a nurse. She took a step towards him, clearly intent to start a poking session.

The look Kakashi gave her was enough to stop her in her tracks. He _hated_ doctors, and nurses were not much better. He almost shuddered when he thought about what she could have done to him while he slept. Civilian medics could not be trusted, they were vicious, sometimes even sadistic; Kakashi thought. Medic-nins were completely different, though often very intimidating.

Minerva said something about Dumbledore and left the room. Kakashi checked his watch; it was only seven in the morning.

The nurse settled into the armchair after she had made sure that he would not get up from the bed. When he'd made an attempt to get up she had demonstratively picked out her stick and pointed in his direction and saying something that sounded very much like a threat, effectively making him stay in between the sheets. After a few minutes, when he'd made it entirely sure that the nurse didn't pose any threat, he pulled up his black cloth-mask that had been pushed down around his neck over his nose, a bit relieved by the familiar feeling. Then he picked up the English dictionary from the bedside table and began to take in the information through the sharingan, glad that he had gotten enough rest to be able to do so.

* * *

Two hours later Dumbledore and had _still _not showed up. Kakashi sighed, the old man was apparently even _worse_ than Obito. Or he was tied up in something important. Whatever. He put down the English dictionary; he had now memorized the whole thing, even down to words sounding as silly as 'willy-nilly' and 'hurdy-gurdy', and was pretty sure that he could speak it as well. Understanding, at least, would not be an issue. He tied on his Hitai-ate, making sure it covered the sharingan completely, and leaned back against the wall, starting to feel sleepy.

Eventually, Dumbledore came in through the door, blue robes billowing around him. He glanced at the nurse in the armchair and she gave him a look saying that she was completely fed up with this. Dumbledore ignored it and stepped up beside the bed.

"Mind if I sit?" he asked, sounding a bit amused. Kakashi only gave him a tired look and shrugged, Dumbledore sat himself of the edge of the bed next to the ANBU. "You really had us worried for a while," the man looking like a major wizard wannabe – actually _everyone_ Kakashi had seen so far looked like wizard wannabes, perhaps they belonged to some weird, English sub-culture. But then again, they _had_ done things he couldn't seem to explain as something else than magic.

"Martha here," Dumbledore gestured to a painting on the wall, Kakashi's eye widened a bit when he saw a portrait of an elderly woman _waving_ and _smiling_ at him. He was convinced that the picture had been blank earlier. "She came and told us that you were dead when you had not woken up for twenty four hours." Kakashi was not to fazed by that, a day was a lot less than he usually needed to regain enough chakra to wake up.

"How long was I out?" he looked up at the old man. He reminded him strongly of the Sandaime Hokage back home, only a bit weirder.

"Nearly three days," came the answer. Kakashi nodded, it was not that bad. Last time he'd tried to use the sharingan for an overly extent amount of time he'd been out for almost two weeks. He was improving. "You'll have to excuse me, there will be time for me to answer whatever questions you might have, but right now I have an important meeting to attend to," Dumbledore said with a grimace. "Notify Minerva or Poppy here if you need anything, Martha," he gestured towards the painting again, "can translate for you." Without saying anything more the old wizard disappeared through the door.

"Minerva-san," Kakashi said, immediately gaining the attention f the stern woman. "Er…" he hesitated a bit, not really sure if he could trust his newly-learned English. "Could I have something to eat?" it came out heavily accented, but understandable. It felt completely out of place, but he nearly started to laugh as he watched her jaw drop. _Laugh_, he couldn't even remember the last time he'd had the urge to laugh.

"We… Uhm… I… How…?" she was interrupted by a loud rumble from Kakashi's stomach. He hadn't eaten for _three days_. No, actually four days, at least. "Of course," Minerva pulled out her stick and Kakashi gave her a wary look. Those things were dangerous. She flicked it and suddenly a tray carrying a plate with several sandwiches along with a pitcher with some sort of juice in it and a glass appeared. Kakashi did his best to look unimpressed, it seemed like they were really using _magic_.

Kakashi climbed out of the bed, earning a worried look from the nurse, 'Poppy'. He sat down on the unoccupied chair by the table and picked up a sandwich. He hesitated for a second before pulling his mask down. They had already seen his face anyway. Minerva stared at him from the other side of the table. She had finally managed to close her mouth.

"How can you know English? I know you didn't before," she sounded so strange that, had Kakashi not had his mouth stuffed with food, he would have no doubt laughed. He was starting to wonder what was wrong with him as he inclined his head towards the dictionary. Minerva got an even funnier look on her face, it seemed so wrong, she had face that looked like she was _always_ composed. Kakashi hurried to swallow before he had the time to choke. "How can you have memorised it so fast?" Kakashi shrugged.

"Guess I have good memory, Minerva san." She didn't reply. Poppy rose from the armchair after a minute or so and beckoned for Minerva to come. They walked over to the door, turned their backs at him and started to whisper with hushed voices. Kakashi was almost insulted. How bad did they think his hearing was?

"I…" began Poppy. "He unnerves me. That eye of his… I don't know. It's feels like having Mad-Eye staring at your back." Her voice sounded shaky. She was afraid of the sharingan? He guessed that it was not entirely unfounded. But she had barely seen him use it.

"You know… he has covered it," said Minerva.

"Mad-Eye can see through things," Poppy answered, her voice even more shaky now. Kakashi briefly wondered who this 'Mad-Eye' was. So far he sounded like someone with the byakugan. Minerva sighed.

"You don't have to stay, Poppy."

"… Thank you," the nurse said and moved further towards the door. "Make sure he rests." She disappeared through it and Minerva took her seat in the armchair with a sigh.

"I'm sorry," she said. Kakashi, despite all his genius, couldn't figure out why, and shrugged it off. He kept on eating the sandwiches and drinking what he'd now discovered to be pumpkin juice. (He had also discovered that pumpkin juice was vile, and silently vowed that he'd never drink it again. But right now he was thirsty.) To his delight he had also noticed that both the plate of sandwiches and the pitcher immediately filled up as soon as he had taken something. So far he was _very_ sure that his sensei would have simply _loved_ this place. Plates that filled themselves up with a never ending amount of food was exactly his style. Kakashi felt a familiar unease creep over him. He tried to shake of the thoughts of his teacher. He was dead. No need to dwell on the past.

* * *

It had been almost an hour when Minerva rose from her chair and proclaimed that she had a class to teach. Of course. This was a school. Kakashi had almost forgotten. None of them had talked much during the past hour, but something in her presence made Kakashi feel safe. She radiated strength, and order. When she walked past the table where he still sat, she handed him a book.

"I think you'll enjoy it," she said and put a hand on the doorknob. Kakashi looked at the book. It was old and worn, the title on the cover barely visible.

"Thank you," he said. "For the food as well," he added absently. He had already started to flip through the pages.

"Remember to rest," said Minerva and looked back at him. "This door will be locked, and there will be at least one guard outside all the time. I am sure you understand." She didn't. Merlin, he was only a child! _Thirteen_ years old. That made him younger than the majority of students here at Hogwarts. Someone at that age should have homework as the most severe of worries. They should _not_ be sent out on _missions_ to _kill_! It was just insane! She was going to have a word with this 'Hokage' as soon as they had found a way to contact him.

He didn't know why, (he was starting to think that he'd hit his head really hard when he tripped in that corridor), but that look on her face really bothered him. He wanted to make it go away. It was not as strong, but it felt a bit like when the one time he'd seen his father cry. It felt completely _wrong_.

"Don't worry, Minerva-san. I've officially been a ninja since I was five. There is no need to worry." Somehow, that just seemed to make it worse. She looked almost terrified.

"One of the ghosts is standing guard outside. Notify Martha if you need anything." With that she hurriedly left the room.

"Ghosts?" That had peaked Kakashi's interest.

"Yes, there are quite a few of them, here at Hogwarts. Most convenient as guards, in times as these, since they can make themselves invisible." Kakashi almost jumped high when the soft voice spoke. He looked around the room. He had been so sure that he was alone. Then he realised that it was the woman in the painting. She looked dumpy, but somehow she still had an air of dignity about her. Kakashi nodded towards her and she smiled in return. Kakashi sighed. This was starting to become a bit too much. He just… He wanted an escape. Well, not really. He didn't really care if he was trapped in some weird magic-school at the moment. He wanted an escape from himself. From his heart that had started to hurt again. He didn't like it. He hadn't _felt_ for a long time. Not since he joined the ANBU. Not since sensei died.

He absently traced the lettering on the cover of the book that Minerva-san had handed him. He picked it up and moved over to the armchair in front of the fireplace where he curled up with his knees against his chest. He flipped the old book open and started to read.

* * *

A/N: Would've kept going a bit further but realised that this was the only place were a chapter break seemed to fit in. Besides, it would've taken longer to update…

Updates will probably be further apart when school starts, there'll probably a new chapter up before Tuesday though.

Thanks for reading :D


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: New chapter!

22 Reviews! This is amazing thank you so much :D

* * *

Kakashi flipped the page of his book. It was truly captivating, with a lot of war and blood and death, but just enough humour to almost make him laugh out loud at times.

"Ron?" The voice coming from the corridor outside was heard in the entire room. That door, despite being that massive, didn't stop _any_ sound from coming in. Kakashi had almost thought that he would have a heart attack the first time he heard a stampede of footsteps coming toward him, just to pass outside in the corridor.

"What are you doing?" the same voice continued. Kakashi gave up reading for a while and decided to eavesdrop for a while instead.

"Err… nothing. What are _you_ doing?" Kakashi could almost hear the stern look the first speaker gave the second.

"Come on now, you can tell me! Why are you hiding here?" They sounded quite ridiculous.

"I… I'm hiding from Fred and George, if you must know. They walked by with a group of first-years just a few moments ago and I can bet that they are testing new stuff at them." Stuff? Kakashi couldn't help it, he was interested. "They can't do it in the common room now, not when Hermione's there." He was talking really fast, like he wanted to get away as soon as possible.

"But why do you have your broomstick, you haven't been flying have you?" Flying. On broomsticks. This was pathetic, was even _that_ true? Though he couldn't help the curiosity he felt. _If_ you could fly on a broomstick he sure wanted to try. Not that he would admit it.

"I… well okay, I _will_ tell you but you can't laugh, promise." At this point Kakashi started to lose interest, whatever it was that bothered this 'Ron' was not nearly as interesting as the book he held in his hands. The main character was just about to walk into a dragon's lair. Kakashi kind of hoped that he'd get fried.

* * *

"And what do you suggest we do, Minerva?" The headmaster gave her a tired look from his side of the desk. She was sitting on a chair opposite to him. "Keep him here and then make sure he is adopted by a family that can give him a 'normal' upbringing?"

"I…" Minerva seemed to think for a moment. "Yes! Why not? He is still a child and the people at _that_ place can't exactly have given him anything worth staying for! He would be happy!"

"Do you really think so?" Dumbledore mused.

"Well! I… Maybe! They forced him into that when he was _five_, Albus. Five! How can they have done such a thing!?"

"Calm down. I doubt that Mr Hatake is a normal case, and you should also remember that their culture is completely different from ours."

"But Albus, _five_!" Dumbledore sighed and massaged his temples.

"I've _know_, Minerva. I can't say that I like it. But _you_ should remember that according to this he has also been legally considered an adult since that age as well. Do you _really_ think that he would ever accept it if you, or anyone, tried to make him into a child?" His headache was getting worse. Could she not just drop it, at least for now?

"I… well… I guess…" Dumbledore couldn't understand what had gotten into her. She said herself that she had talked to him a bit, and then she was suddenly on the verge of tears. It was almost comical.

"Good. This conversation is over." Thank Merlin the woman at least knew when she'd been dismissed. Unlike a certain woman he had started to think about as a pink, fluffy toad in great need of therapy. She didn't belong at a school. She should work at the aurors' offices in the interrogation department. But then again, all aurors would probably drop dead before anyone had gotten a chance to come close to any Death Eaters. He sighed and picked up a cup of delicious lemon tea, suddenly wishing that it contained something a lot stronger.

* * *

Harry Potter scrutinized the map in on the table in front of him. At one a.m. the common room was completely empty except for a small house elf quietly dusting in a corner. Harry wished that it'd been Dobby, then, with someone to talk to, he might've been able to keep his mind of the recurring nightmares. His hand stung. _I must not tell lies._ Someday, he was getting back at that toad.

He sighed and leaned his head against a hand. Ron had found out about what was really going on at Umbridge's detentions today and, of course, he wanted Harry to go tell someone. He sighed deeply and banged his head against the table. Hard. Making the small, female, house elf yelp in surprise. Harry apologised, which only made her look even more terrified. Just great. He wished that he could wake up Ron and talk to him, but his best friend would either just mumble sleepily and turn over on the other side, or throw a worrying fit. Probably the former. But then again, he could also become angry and tell Harry that it was probably nothing and then be pissed because he'd been woken up. Harry couldn't help that he felt a bit… separated from his two closest friends. Like he didn't know them as well anymore. He wouldn't admit that he still felt left out because they had been chosen to become prefects.

He looked back at the Marauder's map, looking for Filch. If the annoying caretaker was nowhere around, then he could probably make his way down to the kitchen. He had decided that it would be a good idea to talk to someone who didn't immediately condemn him – which meant that he wanted to talk to Dobby, and the always certain promise of food seemed quite lovely as well. He looked closely at the map and discovered a dot that he was quite sure he'd never seen before on the seventh floor. It had the name 'Kakashi Hatake' written beside it. The dot didn't move so Harry presumed that whoever it was in there was probably deep asleep. Then he noticed two names he recognised in a second standing outside that room. Remus Lupin and Kingsley Shacklebolt. They were not that far away. Harry folded the map and out on his fathers old invisibility cloak. He felt a twinge of anger that Professor Lupin hadn't even come to say 'hi', but then remembered that it actually was in the middle of the night. He had probably planned on stopping by when he knew Harry would be awake. Yes, that was probably it. Though he wondered what they were doing in a seventh floor corridor at Hogwarts in the middle of the night. I almost looked like they were standing guard…

Harry slowly made his way through the dark corridor, careful not to make any noise. He was starting to see their silhouettes in the faint light from a torch not too far away. He soon began to hear their whispering conversation just as he was about to reveal himself and greet them with something less than a glomp, he heard Kingsley mention the word 'assassin', and froze.

"… Yeah it's hard to believe, isn't it?" Lupin's voice whispered. Kingsley gave an agreeing sound.

"That they'd be sending assassins after him were nothing I had counted on," he heard Kinsley say.

"Poor kid, I wonder how long it'll be until they move him away from the castle." Lupin's voice again.

"I'm not so sure he…" Harry didn't hear anything more of the conversation over the roaring of his own blood in his ears. Now Voldemort was sending _assassins_ after him? After all that trouble of coming back Harry had at least thought that the damned 'Dark Lord' at least would try to get rid of him himself. He also felt angry that Lupin had called him _kid_. And _hey_!? Were they planning to move him _away_ from Hogwarts? No way that he'd give in to that!

* * *

Kakashi turned in his bed. He should probably sleep, since he was nowhere near restored from the chakra exhaustion from earlier. He lay quiet for a while, listening to the faint conversation of the two guards outside the door. One of them smelled strange, like a mix between wolf and human, but not like a human who'd spent a lot of time around wolfs. It was quite confusing. The other man smelled like cheap soap.

He found it quite funny that no one so far had realised that he could hear _everything_ that was said on the other side of that door. He also wondered why none of the guards right now had noticed the person approaching. Kakashi could hear the footsteps clearly though whoever it was apparently tried to walk without making a sound. He sucked at it though. Heck, even Gai could do better. And that said something, since the guy practically did nothing else than running around and jumping, making noise worse than a stampede and yelling annoying phrases. Even his smile made noise. Kakashi also knew that the chuunin was worthless at being stealthy since he was being followed around by him during obscene amounts of time.

Then he became annoyed that the wolf-smelling guard had called him 'Poor kid'.

* * *

That Friday was shrouded in rainy weather just like the rest of the week. As if it was matching Harry's glum mood. Not that Ron noticed. he was far too riled up about the upcoming Quidditch-team tryouts. Harry on his end kept thinking about his massive pile of homework, detention with Umbridge, and why they had placed an _assassin_ sent to _kill_ him in a room that close to the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, and not in one of the deepest, coldest dungeons. Or sent him to Azkaban for that matter. And why Dumbledore had not only kept on _ignoring_ him but also failed to at least _mention_ that there were people out to kill him. Not that that was something particularly unusual, he mused grimly.

At five that afternoon Harry sat down at detention in Umbridge's office. At least he had view over the quidditch-pitch outside. Perhaps he could manage to catch a glimpse of Ron as he tried out for keeper.

"You know what to do, Potter," the teacher said with a sugary smile.

Harry managed to find a position from which he could also manage to glimpse out the window so that he could see the figures of the Gryffindor Quidditch-team on their brooms, as well as people below waiting for their turn to tryout. He picked up the resented quill and put it against the parchment.

"I wonder what Dumbledore has been up to lately," Umbridge said sweetly. She actually allowed him to make noise? Even if it was to answer her question - wow.

"Probably busy with that guy he keeps prisoner at the seventh floor," Harry said grimly. He didn't realise that he'd spoken out loud before Umbridge suddenly jumped up, causing her chair to scrape against the floor and making Harry, and all the kitten-pictures on the walls, wince from the sound.

"What!?" she exclaimed in a shrill voice. Before Harry had time to say that it was probably nothing, she had said that he was free to go and stormed out of the office. Harry regretted what he'd said at first but then realised that he'd still make it in time before it was Ron's turn out at the quidditch-pitch and he hurried away. He only hoped that this meant that he wouldn't have to come back for more detention.

* * *

How on earth had she found out? Dumbledore was certain that none of them that he had entrusted with this knowledge would have informed anyone, and least of all _Umbridge_.

"I can assure you, Dolores, that no one is held captive in this castle." He tried to keep calm. People could say whatever they wanted but no one could blame Mr Potter for snapping. And it was just the en of the first school week. It would be _moths_ until he could even get a break from her.

"Then who is it?" Her condescending smirk and shrill giggle was all that was needed for his migraine to return. Tenfold.

"A guest, Dolores," said Minerva, her voice held none of the previous day's distress.

"Then you would not mind me seeing this 'guest' would you? Hm?"

"Of course not," Dumbledore barely managed to keep a massive sigh inside.

"Let's go then." The pink bow on Umbridge's head swayed ridiculously as she led the way towards the seventh floor, accompanied by Dumbledore and McGonagall. Dumbledore could only hope that sir Nicholas – the ghost currently on guard, would not reveal anything and leave before Umbridge got suspicious. At least he could be quite confident that Mr Hatake wouldn't give anything up.

* * *

Kakashi almost shrieked in horror (he managed to only show a twitch of his right eye outwards) when a horrifying, pink- dressed abomination entered the room. Directly followed by Dumbledore and Minerva. The squat woman turned to Dumbledore as soon as she had spotted Kakashi.

"I didn't know that he was only a boy, does he not attend school?" Her tone was too sweet and her voice too shrill. She reminded Kakashi of a toad with a pink fly on her head. But then he had to change his mind when the thought of toads got him to think of the sannin Jiraya. His toads were way cooler than this. It would be demeaning to them to think of her as a toad.

"He has graduated early from an East Asian school," Minerva said immediately. So they didn't want this… woman, to know who he was.

"Is that true?" This time she turned to Kakashi who had to take a step back. Her breath reeked of too few tooth-brushings and breathmints. "Are you _really_ a guest here and not held against your will?" Her tone was still just as sweet, but had gained a tint of malice.

"Of course," he said, sounding bored. "Why would I not be?" It wasn't even a lie. Had he really wanted to leave had the lax measures to keep him there been nowhere near sufficient. Besides, he had no where else to go, and he was quite certain that his best way to find a way back home was to stick with Dumbledore. The old man knew what he was doing.

"All right then," why did she have to keep talking? Could she not just leave? He had nearly reached the end of his book and wanted to know if the group of main characters would survive. "I am Dolores Umbridge." So? He stared at her for a moment before he realised that she would want his name in return.

"Hatake Kakashi."

"Ah, okay then, mister Kakashi…" Kakashi interrupted her by clearing his throat. The expression she got on her face almost made him laugh. Again. He must've gotten sick since he came here. He saw Dumbledore silently snickering behind her back.

"By all means _Umbridge_, Hatake is my family name." She didn't seem to notice the lack of any formal honorific.

"Oh, then mister _Hatake_, I presume that you have been given a tour of the castle?"

"Not yet, there has not been time for it so far," he saw that Minerva had opened her mouth to speak – no doubt to say what he had just told the supposed professor in front of him. He was quite certain that the Umbridge woman would not have believed her, since she seemed determined to press the information out of him.

"Oh," she really seemed to like starting her sentences with 'oh's and 'ah's. "Then I am convinced that Professor McGonagall here will have no qualms about giving you a tour _right now_." Minerva twitched visibly at this. It seemed that 'Professor Umbridge' held some kind of power. "You should also feel free to wander around the castle, and the grounds, as you like in the future Mr Hatake. Also, the forest is a forbidden area for students and I _trust_ that you will not venture into it. Feel free to join in at the meals in the great hall. I see to it that you have a free spot to sit among the teachers." Which meant that he was _not _allowed to go into the forest and that he would only eat his meals with students and teachers in the great hall. That made Kakashi a bit annoyed. He did not like to eat in public. Umbridge opened the door and just as she was about to leave she turned again.

"Also, feel free to attend our classes; I am sure that you are interested in how we conduct teaching here in the west," at least a part of that was true; he was actually interested in the classes taught here. "And also," now the sugar-coated tone was back worse than before, "I would prefer if you did not conceal your face while at Hogwarts." She disappeared and the door fell shut behind her. Like he would even consider taking the mask of.

Dumbledore sighed heavily and massaged his temples in a gesture that reminded Kakashi immensely of the Sandaime Hokage back home.

"Good to see you again, Mr Hatake," Dumbledore greeted.

"Likewise, Dumbledore-sama," Kakashi answered. They had talked for a while the previous day and Kakashi had developed a great respect for the old wizard.

"I suppose I should give you that tour now?" said Minerva in a tired voice.

* * *

The wonders of Hogwarts were many and Kakashi couldn't help but stare. He was almost bursting with questions about everything that Minerva only described briefly and was just about to explode in a very un-Kakashi like manner when they reached the library. She told him that he was free to borrow whatever books he liked. He immediately brought with him the one called _Hogwarts: A history_. He calmed down a bit and decided to find all his answers in the library later on and the tour continued.

He learned a bit about the four houses, the locations of the classrooms for almost all subjects and that Minerva, or 'Professor McGonagall', taught transfiguration and so on. On their way up to the sixth floor he was too busy watching all the moving and talking pictures to notice that Minerva skipped a step in the stairs. He put down his foot on it and sunk down to the knee at once. When he tried to pull free the stone seemed too draw his leg down deeper. Minerva had to pull out her 'magic stick' or, wand, as it was called, to get him loose.

Back at his room, she used a spell to get a tray with dinner for him to pop up at the table.

"We missed dinner during the 'tour'; you can start to attend meals in the morning instead. Breakfast opens at seven. I'll see you in the morning, Mr Hatake," she said.

"Minerva-san," he gave a nod to which Minerva smiled in return before she disappeared through the door. Kakashi immediately opened _'Hogwarts: A history_' and forgot all about dinner.

* * *

A/N: Well here's another chapter done :D

And now I'm going to go back to writing a paper on microbiology in connection to agriculture… It must be one of the most boring subjects I've ever red about… :/

Anyway, next chapter coming soon!


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: New chapter!

It's been _one_ week and I'm already tired of school...

Anyway, here it goes P

* * *

_Drip_

_K__unai embedded down to the hilt. Trashing one of the enemy's kidneys._

_The six year-old did not _know_ what he had done. In theory, yes. But not for real. He watched in fascination as the Iwa-nin's eyes glazed over._

_Drip. Drip._

_The bloodstream grew bigger. The blood started to drip from his arm as everything was soaked red. He couldn't understand why he could taste it in his mouth. Thick, rich, metallic. He wanted to go home and curl up with Pakkun._

_Drip. Drip._

_He went home. His father complimented him on a mission well-done. He _smiled

_Drip. Drip. Drip._

_Blood started to flow down his father's face. It ran over the floors of the house where he had lived his entire life. Dripping down the steps of the stairs. The taste grew worse._

_Drip. Drip._

_The__ tanto handle stuck out of his father's stomach. What should have been white was coloured red. Nearly invisible in the sea of blood._

_Drip. Drip._

_He looked at his hands. The blood made them shiny and red. He looked up into the mirror. A sharingan eye spun madly. Just as red._

* * *

There was someone in the room. Kakashi was not sure if it was this fact or the dream that had jolted him from sleep. He silently thanked all deities he could think of that he had woken up just before he reached Obito. Those dreams were nothing new. He realised that he'd bit the inside of his cheek while he slept.

There was a small being silently putting another log on the fire.

"Are you all right, sir?" it asked and turned towards him. The… _thing_ seemed to wear loads of different little hats on top of each other along with some surprisingly regular clothes. And for some reason it wore mismatched socks. Huge yellow eyes glinted with worry in the warm light from the fire.

"Uhm…" He couldn't really figure out a remotely polite way to ask exactly what it was. He didn't want to offend it. It didn't seem dangerous, but neither had he before he killed his enemies when six years old. He felt a movement beside him on the bed. And a strangely familiar smell.

"Pakkun?" He turned to the pug sitting next to him. "How did _you_ get here?"

"Good to see you too," the nin-dog replied sarcastically.

"You didn't answer my question."

"He wanted to come, I let him in." A squeaky voice from the creature by the fire spoke up.

"_You_ summoned Pakkun?" Kakashi didn't bother to hide his disbelief. See? It sure wasn't harmless.

"No he didn't," the pug answered. "I don't know what he did but it sure as hell wasn't summoning." The strange figure only smiled.

"Oh," it said, suddenly remembering something, "I am Dobby, sir. It is a great pleasure to meet you sir. Dobby was quite worried when you wouldn't wake up earlier and now you were having nightmares so when Pakkun wished to come I let him."

"Uhm… I'm Kakashi. Apparently you already know Pakkun." He glanced at the dog that looked at him happily and wagged his tail a bit. "I hope you don't mind me asking but… _What_ are you exactly?"

"He's a House-elf," Pakkun answered instead.

"And how do _you_ know that?"

"I asked him while you slept."

"Oh."

"What do…?" Kakashi's question was interrupted by Dobby who now had puffed up his chest and looked really proud.

"Dobby is a House-elf that along with many others are employed by Professor Dumbledore to cook and clean and such here at Hogwarts." Did he always address himself in third person? And why did he make it sound like it was the greatest thing imaginable too clean this massive castle? He almost sounded like Gai when he announced to do something really stupid. Like building a pyramid out of all the gravel in Konoha, with his toes. At least Dobby didn't yell.

Dobby just stood there while Kakashi stared at him.

"Uhm… Why don't you sit or something?" Kakashi asked. He started to feel sleepy again, but he doubted that he would be able fall asleep with the nightmare fresh in mind.

"No sir, thank you very much sir…"

"Lay of the 'sir' thing."

"As you wish sir. You remind Dobby very much of Mr Harry Potter sir, if I may say so sir. Sorry, sir but dobby has a lot of rooms to clean sir and Dobby must get going now, sir. Goodbye sir." Kakashi groaned and fell back at his pillows, so much for 'laying off the sir thing'. Dobby disappeared with a quiet 'pop'. Definitely not harmless.

After perhaps ten minutes of silence Pakkun spoke again.

"Go back to sleep Kakashi," he said. "I'll be here."

"Thank you," the young ANBU whispered, grateful, as he slipped back into sleep, curled up to the dog he considered to be the only friend he had left.

* * *

Morning came with bright sunshine and birdsong through the window that was slightly ajar. _Wait a second._ Window? When the _hell_ had that gotten there? Kakashi was sure there had been none previously. Perhaps it was like the walls that sometimes liked to pretend to be doors and stairs that decided to go to another floor on certain weekdays that Minerva-san had told him about yesterday? Something like that, at least, he figured.

He got up from bed and noticed with dismay that his clothes were missing. He found a bundle of cloth lying on a chair with a note on top. It was from Dobby, telling him that his clothes had been taken for washing and that he was free to keep the robes on the chair. He sighed heavily and put on the black wizard-robes. They were restricting, but he figured that one or a few days wouldn't hurt too much. Until he woke Pakkun.

"Oi, Kakashi, what the hell are you wearing?" the pug asked with a snicker. Kakashi just glared.

"Come on, we're going down to breakfast," Kakashi thought that he perhaps should have sent Pakkun away but reconsidered. He liked having the dog around, and as long as no one said anything, it couldn't be that bad. They left the room together and walked down the corridor.

* * *

"Oh look, a puppy!" the shout of two young Gryffindor girls echoed in the corridor. Both Kakashi and Pakkun twitched. Identically. The girls, who now had gained company of three others, ran up to Kakashi and then turned to Pakkun.

"Aww... It's so cute! Can I pet it?" one of the girls, a blonde, asked Kakashi.

"No you can't," Pakkun answered with a growl. Usually, he would have loved the attention but right now he was just annoyed.

"I-i-i-it _talked_!" the blonde's brunette friend gasped.

"Yeah _it_ talked," Pakkun considered biting their ankles.

"Bu-bu-but… You aren't _really_ a dog are you?" the blonde asked, gaining confidence at the end.

"Of course I am a dog."

"But why do you talk?" the brunette stared wide-eyed at him.

"Because I want to," Pakkun said in a 'duh' tone of voice.

"So all dogs can talk, really?" the blonde said. She seemed to think that now that she'd grasped it, she was an expert.

"Sure," said Pakkun, like _he_ was going to tell them the truth. The Brunette opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted by an awful, sugar-sweet voice.

"Oh, Mr Hatake!" 'Professor' Umbridge came hurrying towards them.

"Wow, if Gamabunta saw her she'd be flat," Pakkun exclaimed.

"Why?" asked Kakashi, one visible eyebrow raised.

"Squashed for disgracing the family." Kakashi couldn't hold back a snicker that, unfortunately, was heard by Umbridge. Her face started to take on a shade of red that was very unflattering against her pink outfit. What Kakashi considered to be the funniest was that she hadn't really understood what they said, and she was still upset. But perhaps that was the problem.

"Dogs, Mr Hatake, are _not_, allowed pets here at Hogwarts." A bored look and an 'ok' from Kakashi and Pakkun disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Meet me at my office by eleven a.m. Mr Hatake," she said, with even more sweetness in her voice. Kakashi stared at her back as she walked away in the opposite direction of the one she'd been heading before. Apparently the woman worked on weekends when the rest of the school was free.

He entered the great hall and was thankful that the first time he'd eat a meal there was during a Saturday, there were not too many students around since it was still early and most preferred to get down to the hall later and sleep in. There were a few curious glances and Kakashi was suddenly thankful for the annoying robes. Had he worn his own clothing he would've stuck out like a sore thumb and probably been stared at even more. Something no shinobi was too fond of.

Minerva-san showed him a seat between her own spot (she had just finished her meal and was heading out) and a dumpy, short witch introduced as 'Professor Pomona Sprout'. He did not feel comfortable about sitting on a raised table in front of the ones assigned for the houses, but it was probably better than to have to sit next to nosy students with too many questions.

He hadn't even had the time to put butter on a piece of toast before Professor Sprout started to grill him with questions. She told him about her area of work and then started to practically interrogate him about certain Japanese and Chinese magical herbs of plants. Not only were he not that well educated in the field of herbs and plants but the climate and vegetation of the Country of Fire and the Country of Rock (which were the ones he knew most about) were completely different from China and Japan. He gave a half-lame explanation that the field that interested Professor Sprout so much was not one he had studied much. She didn't seem to understand and Kakashi became frustrated. She said that he had to know _something_ since herbology was a subject on the schedule (she had actually visited the place Kakashi pretended to come from), and that he had graduated. Kakashi pretended that he didn't understand what she said; he made his accent worse than it really was and then excused himself from the table. He forgot about his breakfast, until he was almost at the doors. He turned back with a silent curse and picked up his toast before he hurried out of the room again, wondering exactly _what_ kind of person was supposed to sit at the end of the table. That chair was at least twice the size of all the others.

* * *

Ronald Weasley banged his forehead against the table. Hard. He and Harry had accepted and now they were both sitting in the library along with the only girl of the trio, following her new, foolproof strategy. It was called 'Do all the homework you have left for the coming week during Saturday morning so you won't have to bother with it later', or just 'homework', as Hermione called it. Ron was fonder of the former name, it symbolized the annoyingness of these things better, he thought. They were actually trapped inside when the weather was nice for once. He vaguely saw a figure out of the corner of his eye and turned.

"Hey look, it's that kid," he exclaimed when he saw a grey-haired figure with some sort of headband tilted over one eye.

"What kid?" Harry asked confused, looking up from his potions paper.

"That foreign exchange kid, don't remember his name really," Ron answered.

"He's _not_ a foreign exchange student Ron; do you _ever_ pay attention to _anything_? He is here because he's graduated _early_ from his school somewhere in eastern Asia, and wants to know more about our school system," Hermione stated. Rolling her eyes at Ron.

"Whatever, it's the same thing," he said while Harry glanced over at the boy, he had probably heard everything they'd said. He had _graduated_? He looked like he was like… twelve, or something, maybe thirteen or fourteen if he was small for his age. But it was hard to tell when his face was covered like that.

"Hermione, what time is it?" Ron whined. "I'm hungry."

"You are _always_ hungry Ron," Hermione sighed but checked her watch. "Its fifteen minutes to twelve, now finished that homework and then we can go to lunch."

"Yes _mom_," Ron said as the foreign exchange-or whatever guy looked up for a moment and then put his book away. He walked out of the library as Ron started to mutter about sadistic teachers and bossy girls.

* * *

"You are… fifty-eight minutes late," Umbridge stated as Kakashi entered her office. He hadn't meant to be late. Not really, it was just that that the book he'd been reading (currently about flobberworms no less…) had seemed so much more interesting. Now he decided that, since he was this late anyway, he could just as well give her a lame excuse – Obito style.

"I found a grey hair and hyperventilated about it for forty-five minutes thinking that I was getting old until I realised that my hair _is_ grey and decided that it was nothing to become upset about," he said in a bored voice. Umbridge stared at him with bulging eyes.

"You're thirteen," her voice held nothing of her normal tone.

"Fourteen next week."

"Aren't you a bit young to think about getting old?" some of that disturbing sweetness was back.

"I'm probably just having an 'I'm probably more than twice the age I should've ever become'- life crisis," he said with a shrug. The look on her face was almost hilarious. Anyone that _wasn't_ emotionally incapacitated would probably be rolling on the floor trying to breathe right now.

"I don't think I follow…"

"I suppose you don't"

"Where was I?"

"I have no idea"

"Uhm… You look tired; perhaps you should go get some rest?" Umbridge looked so confused that Kakashi almost felt sorry for her. Almost.

"All right." He turned and left her office. Glad that he would be able to return to his book. He still didn't know _why_ she had requested that meeting, but suspected that it had something to do with Pakkun.

* * *

"I just want to check up on something," Hermione said and opened the doors to the library. Harry and Ron followed, she had _promised_ to not drag them into the library during the Sunday. Apparently she had forgotten. "Look, there's that kid again!" Hermione exclaimed, hinting towards the grey-haired boy sitting in the same chair they'd seen him in yesterday.

"Ok, now we know that he's just as obsessed with the library as you are, let's go," Ron said and turned back to the doors. Madame Pince was nowhere to bee seen, which was an occasion as rare as seeing Malfoy wearing pink. A.k.a. never heard of. She used to guard the books with her life from everyone but Hermione, it seemed.

"Oh, come on Ron, he looks lonely. Let's go talk to him."

"You do that," Ron said, sitting down on a chair, signalling that he had no intent on doing so himself. Harry placed himself beside his best friend. He was completely set on getting out on the grounds and practice quidditch with Ron. Hermione sighed heavily.

"Oh, how _friendly_ you can be," she said with sarcasm. "I'll ask him to come with us to classes tomorrow. Alright?"

"Are you serious? We have double potions with Slytherin, double divinations and defence against the dark arts tomorrow, how much fun do you think he'll have sitting by watching _those_ classes? If he's even let in?"

"It won't be _that_ bad Ron, besides; I'll come with you to divinations, arithmancy is cancelled for next week."

"Uhm, Hermione, you sure you can just stomp in at classes you're not supposed to be in?" Harry spoke for the first time since they entered the library. He felt uneasy around that foreign exchange kid and could swear that he was watching them right now. Not that he would be able to hear them from this distance, right?

"Of course I'm sure; you are allowed to attend every class that's taught as long as you don't disturb anyone. I've done it dozens of times."

"Whatever," Ron said with a sigh. There really was no arguing with Hermione when she was like that. She smiled at them and took of towards the boy who looked utterly bored where he sat with his one eye fixed on the book in his lap.

* * *

"Hi there," a girl with bushy, brown hair said with a smile.

"Yo," Kakashi answered, not bothering to look up from the book.

"I'm Hermione Granger," she introduced herself.

"Hatake Kakashi," he flipped a page.

"You're Japanese, right? So Hatake would be your family name?" Wow, someone at this place actually seemed to have a brain.

"Mhm," came his elaborate answer.

"How did you get here? Portkey?" She leaned against the round table since there was no more chairs around.

"Airplane."

"Ah, was it your first time? Flying I mean?"

"Uh huh." He turned another page.

"How was it?"

"Cramped, disgusting food, screaming babies. Guess." At that she burst out laughing, to Kakashi's surprise. "Next time I'm bringing earplugs." For some reason it felt good to hear her laugh, even though he didn't really get why. It was a long time since he'd actually heard someone laugh for real. If you didn't count Anko, or Gai, but they were both complete nutcases.

"Anyway," she said, "I'm heading out with Ron and Harry over there," she pointed over her shoulder at two boys; Kakashi had seen the three of them sitting together yesterday. "And we were wondering if you'd like to come to classes with us tomorrow," she smiled brightly at him.

"Sure," he said. He had planned on checking out the classes and this would just make it simpler, he wouldn't have to find his way on his own and risk coming in late and disturb an ongoing class.

"Ok, first class is double potions at eight-thirty down in the dungeons, don't be late!" she said with an even brighter smile as she skipped away to her waiting friends. Kakashi shook his head at nothing in particular and flipped another page. Girls were strange. And flobberworms and other 'commonly occurring minor magical creatures' were definitely boring.

* * *

A/N: Done

Thanks for reading.

Next chapter's in progress!


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: Yay! New chapter!

Over 40 reviews and just as many alert subscriptions, this is worth a _big_ party! Woohoo!! Thank you all SO much!

* * *

_Hatake Kakashi_

Chills kept running down Harry's spine when he heard the name. It was the very same he'd seen on the map that night. _It was the assassin_. He cursed silently when Hermione was done with her introductions. It was twenty minutes before class and Harry, Ron, Hermione and… _Kakashi,_ had met up outside the classroom door. Professor Snape had picked up the annoying habit of being early and then giving everyone (except for his precious Slytherins) detentions if they came in later than he did.

Harry noticed that the foreign exchange-or something student slash assassin didn't react at all when he heard his name, his gaze didn't linger and none of the exclamations or other type of reactions he was used to getting followed. _Of course_, Harry was his target; of course he already knew who he was.

Harry motioned to Ron and Hermione that he wanted to talk to them and they moved a bit down the corridor, not out of sight but well out of range of normal hearing. Harry told them what had occurred that night, how he had seen Professor Lupin's name on the map and then overheard his and Kingsley's conversation. He had at least thought that Ron would stand by his side.

"Harry, aren't you going a _bit_ too paranoid about this? I mean, _if_ this Kakashi guy _really_ was sent out to kill you, do you think that Dumbledore would let him out into the castle? And _if_ he was an assassin, how can you be so sure he was out to kill you. Ok, scratch that last thing, everyone is _always_ out to kill you, so that would kind of make sense." Ron looked at him sceptically; no Ron looked at him like he was going crazy. Just great, even his best friend thought he was just making things up. Hermione, always the voice of reason, spoke up.

"Are you sure you didn't just dream it? You _did_ wake up in the common room with your face at the map. Besides, I don't really think that Professor Lupin would come to Hogwarts without even stopping by to say hello." Perhaps she was right, or perhaps he was starting to turn out like Professor Moody, constantly thinking that everything and everyone was out to get him.

"But," Harry couldn't just drop it; he _knew_ that what had happened that night was true. He lowered his voice even more. "What if he was here under order from, _you know,_ the _Order_." Their conversation was suddenly interrupted by a bored voice.

"What in the world makes you think that I would ever want to kill _you_?"

* * *

Kakashi looked at them in amusement, though he didn't show any of it. He leaned against the wall next to where the red headed boy, Ron, was standing, arms crossed over his chest. The girl, Hermione, her eyes looked like they were ready to pop out of their sockets and Ron's mouth was hanging agape. This Harry boy, he was older but Kakashi still considered him to be nothing more than a _boy_, was just plain annoying. What reason did he have to think that assassins would be sent after _him_ of all people? He did not seem particularly powerful, though Kakashi knew that this could be misleading, but he was incredibly stupid at that. He had wanted to discuss obviously secret and possibly _dangerous_ subjects with his friends and the only precaution he had taken was to walk a bit down the corridor. Kakashi had not only been able to hear them but with the sharingan he would've been able to read what was said on their lips from a distance probably ten times as big. He had not even made an attempt to put up a spell to muffle the sound or anything. 

Kakashi was annoyed that before he was able to take more time studying it he would stand practically defenceless against this _magic_ if it was used correctly. Meaning that the Potter boy and his friends probably would stand no chance while he would be crushed if put up against a teacher or someone with more experience and brains.

"Duh! He is _Harry Potter,_" Ron stated as an answer to Kakashi's question. _Harry Potter?_

"And I am supposed to know who he is?" Kakashi let the boredom shine through clearly in his speech.

"You _don't_ know?" Ron practically screeched. "_Harry Potter_? The _Boy Who Lived_? The guy who's stood up against _You Know Who_ four times _and lived_, Harry Potter!"

"Who's, _You Know Who_?"

Now both Harry's and Hermione's jaws dropped as well, they had at least tried to look collected up until now.

"You seriously don't know who _You Know Who_ is? The Dark Lord? He who must not be named? The heir of Slytherin?" Ron rambled on; when he started to babble about this power mad 'Dark Lord's attempts of gaining eternal life and affinity to snakes Kakashi couldn't help but thinking of Orochimaru. Eventually, when Ron had started to talk about things that seemed to be quite classified, Harry interrupted.

"You have honestly never heard about Voldemort?" So _he _was the creepy Orochimaru-like 'Dark-Lord'. Those bastards were probably friends and, the more Kakashi thought about it, the more it made sense. He could bet that it was the two of them together who had managed to find a way past the gap and managed to spread their overall nastiness to more than one world. Something like that was to expect of the treacherous snake-sannin, at least.

"Oh, _Voldemort_ I've heard about." Now the three Hogwarts students seemed ready to keel over, shocked that he had recognized the name, that apparently was taboo, and not all of the completely ridiculous titles Ron had provided. Kakashi decided to mess with them a bit more, just for the sake of it. "He's teaming up with this 'Lucius Malfoy' guy, right?" Three mouths simultaneously fell open and Kakashi hid a smirk behind his mask. Just as Hermione seemed to prepare to talk a distinctive smell of greasy hair hit Kakashi's nostrils and an ominous, somewhat bat-like teacher appeared around a corner. It was still ten minutes to class, but none of the Gryffindor students (any Slytherins had yet to appear) lingered in the hallway.

Kakashi still didn't understand why he was supposed to know exactly who Harry Potter was, or why he seemed to be supposed to be impressed by meeting him.

* * *

Severus Snape stared at the boy who had just entered _his_ class. He wouldn't admit to being… _afraid_ of the boy. Never. But whenever he was around Snape wanted to leave. Muggles weren't supposed to have such power. And children weren't supposed to have that kind of cool, determined intellect. It unnerved him to no end that, if it had been for nothing but a toy, a prankster's foolish toy, this boy would have been able to eliminate one of the greatest wizards ever to have walked the earth. Muggles weren't even supposed to be able to _see_ Hogwarts. But this boy with his spinning red eye, that eye made more chills go down Snape's spine than the eyes possessed by the Dark Lord himself, he had simply waltzed into Hogwarts past _every_ damn taken precaution. 

It also annoyed Snape that the Dark Lord had went behind his back and hired an assassin, it was even worse that he had let in _Malfoy_ on the plan, while potions master had remained oblivious.

Snape was beside everything else even more annoyed that _Mr Hatake_, had come into _his_ class along with _Potter_ and his friends. The young assassin had not really stricken him like the kind of person to hang around such an idiot. But the Death Eater-turned Order of the Phoenix member and two-way spy slash teacher was also relieved. He sure as hell didn't want such an… _unsettling_ individual around _his_ students.

Soon Slytherin students started to file in, some even a few minutes late, and Snape; true to his habit, gave no one detention

* * *

Kakashi was seated at the back of the classroom next to a quite clumsy Gryffindor boy named Neville; he had immediately taken a liking to the older, clumsy, not very talented and forgetful Hogwarts student. He actually reminded Kakashi of Obito. Only Obito's rude, loudmouthed boldness was replaced by a quiet, shy and insecure facade. Normally, Kakashi would've simply thought of him as just that, shy and insecure, but something he had seen in the other boy's eyes when they were introduced had made him reconsider. Behind all those layers were bravery and a will to fight burning strong. Something Kakashi had only seen like that in a very few people. His sensei and Obito were two of them. He had also recognised the signs of suffering and something that seemed like actual experience when it came to serious matters in the older boy. Something all students so far seemed to lack. If you didn't count Harry Potter and what Kakashi had now been told of him, but so far, Kakashi considered him to be an utter moron. 

Potions. Kakashi hadn't had time yet to read up more closely on the subject, but it did not seem that difficult. It was just a matter of being precise and accurate. And it didn't even seem half as hard as medical jutsu.

Kakashi wondered if he, as a muggle, could do it. Or if you had to have magical properties of your own. He was quite certain that he would be able to make easier potions, but when it came to more advanced ones he was positive that stick-swinging would be needed at some point. And, as Dumbledore-sama has told him, he was definitely a so called 'muggle'.

Professor Snape had put up instructions on the board and students were beginning to prepare their ingredients. Since books were not needed for this particular assignment, Kakashi had borrowed Neville's potions book. He was reading a page about how to neutralise certain unwanted properties you could give a potion if you added too much 'scurvy-grass' to a _Confusing & Befuddlement draught_, which the student's were currently making. One of the effects of making this error, the book stated, was that the draught that was supposed to be light flowing and green turned sticky and orange, which Kakashi just realised that Neville's certainly was. Professor Snape was making his way towards their table and the ANBU captain noticed that Neville was getting more agitated by the second. Apparently he was scared witless of the black-clad teacher. Kakashi nudged Neville in the side and motioned for Neville to insert two grains of grinded, dried, black beetles into his cauldron which was supposed to neutralise the scurvy-grass. Neville shot him a grateful glance as the potion turned back to whatever it was supposed to be before you added the delicate plants. Kakashi went back to the book just as Snape stepped up beside Neville. If he had seen Kakashi help him, he didn't show it. He only commented that it seemed like Mr Longbottom had _finally_ managed to get _anything_ into his thick skull.

To all of the Gryffindor students' surprise, no one got detention, no points were taken from their house and Snape was only remotely mean. It was enough to make most Gryffindor's nervous.

* * *

After the class, Kakashi stood by the door, waiting for the three he was following around for the day to finish up. A pale boy with white-blonde hair approached him, flanked by two gorilla-like 'bodyguards' with a stupid look seemingly etched onto their faces. 

"So, are you a mudblood hanging around those of your kind since no one else would talk to you?" the pale boy asked. Kakashi had no idea of what the boy was speaking of.

"No," Kakashi answered, looking the other one in the eyes; annoyed that he had to look up to do so. He couldn't _wait_ to start growing. And then perhaps gain some more respect. Not that it was not strategically good to be underestimated, but still.

"So you're a pureblood then? May I ask _why_ you hang out with the likes of _them_?" he said with a gesture towards the Gryffindors. Kakashi still didn't know what he was talking about, sure; he was at least a pureblood Hatake for what it was worth. Before he had to come up with a reply, he was, surprisingly, saved by no one less than Greasy-Hair-san himself.

"You should, _not_, do anything that could compromise our political standing with Japanese wizards, Mr Malfoy," Professor Snape said slowly, he was almost dragging his voice and sounded quite nasal at that. He emphasised his words by smacking the Slytherin over the head. Then he turned to the students left in the classroom who had witnessed Snape's little intervention and was completely shocked by his actions towards Malfoy. "Do you not have classes to attend?" the professor snarled and everyone started to hurry out the door. "Mr Hatake," Snape acknowledged Kakashi and gave him a small nod.

"Snape-san," Kakashi retorted before giving an even smaller nod and leaving the dungeon.

* * *

The next class was 'Defence against the dark arts', a subject that Kakashi so far was truly interested in, even if he couldn't use the magic, maybe it could still help him if he were to _fight_ magic. He had to bite back a groan when he found out that the toad-disgrace was the one teaching the class. He was, yet again, sitting in the back of the classroom. Umbridge walked up behind her desk. It seemed like Kakashi was not the only one holding dislike towards the pink-dressed abomination. 

"Good morning class," she exclaimed sweetly with way too much enthusiasm.

"Good morning, Professor Umbridge," everyone answered in chorus. Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"_Mr_ Hatake," she said. "I didn't hear your voice, let's try again. Good morning class," Kakashi almost felt like vomiting. He still kept quiet when the others answered. That boiled-crayfish red colour was rising on her face again.

"Mr Hatake, must I remind you that you are supposed to _answer_ when someone greets you? And did I not tell you that I do _not_ appreciate that your face is covered in this school?" the sweet tint was almost gone now.

"You said 'class'," Kakashi said in his normal, bored tone. "I am no part of your _class_, and perhaps I am hiding my face for a reason?" She opened her mouth to speak again but Kakashi interrupted. "Don't you have a _class_ to teach?" Her facial expression earned choked snickers from most students. She looked completely constipated. Soon the class was in progress, which meant that everyone were copying texts from the book and Umbridge kept sending frosty glares at Kakashi. She didn't seem to get what Snape had spoken to Malfoy about earlier. And she was supposed to work for the ministry.

* * *

"Did you see her _face!_" Ron practically squealed and slapped Kakashi on the back. "I was _so_ great man!" They were on their way down to lunch in the great hall and Ron had been almost glowing since they got out of Defence against the dark arts. Hermione just rolled her eyes at her friend's antics, but anyone who knew her also knew that she was just as delighted to see Umbridge on the brink of explosion. 

"Her face! Her _face_!" Ron proclaimed loudly to everyone in the halls.

Suddenly, ok, Kakashi had spotted them a _long_ time ago so not so suddenly, two taller redheads appeared, one on either side of the small group.

"Who's," one of the twins began, "Face," the other one filled in "Ronnekins!?" they both ended the question in unison. Ron rolled his eyes but was too happy at the moment to care and let the hated nickname pass.

"Umbridge's!" he squealed again. "You should've _seen_ her…"

"I'm just wondering why she didn't give you detention or _any_ kind of punishment," Harry mumbled.

"That's easy Harry," Hermione stated. "Despite how evil she id there still _is_ a brain hidden behind that façade. Umbridge knows that she could create a diplomatic situation if she were to do _anything_ to Kakashi, while he is no one of importance in Japan he can do practically everything that is not directly against the law and get away with it, while Umbridge, as an employee of the British Ministry can do _nothing_ to him without it being directly aimed at Japan." Most had tuned out by then and Ron just shrugged. Then followed a _very_ detailed explanation of what had happened in the beginning of class. At the end both Weasley twins, Hermione had introduced them as Fred and George (Kakashi did not know which name belonged to which one of them), were just as excited as Ron. And soon they decided that Kakashi was very much in need of some of their merchandise to fully be able to use his diplomatic immunity.

"What about a _very_ useful fake wand?" one of them said and held out a stick in front of Kakashi.

"You will even get a discount!" the other one said.

"This particular wand happens to turn into a rubber rooster," the first twin gave the stick a small wave and with a loud squeak he held a sloppy toy in his hand.

"The sound feature is newly added!" the second filled in. Kakashi felt like going and banging his head against something hard. _That_ was the kind of toy that had stopped him from completing his mission. But then again, perhaps he should be thankful. Had that toy nod been littering the corridor he _wouldn't_ have get caught, he _would_ have killed a great man for nothing and he _would_ have caused a possible threat towards Konoha. And he _still_ wouldn't have gotten paid.

* * *

The tower where divinations class was held was even worse than the cold, damp dungeons. Kakashi could smell it long before they were even close. At first it was only a soft tingling of perfume and incense, it almost smelled good. But soon Kakashi felt like his nose was going numb. When they waited beneath the lid in the ceiling were a silver ladder apparently was supposed to come down he couldn't stop sneezing. What kind of person could be able to _work_ in this all the time? Hermione looked worried and quietly suggested that she could come with him to the hospital wing. He gave her a lazy wave of a hand. 

"Id's jus' abdergies," he explained. Inwardly annoyed that he couldn't speak properly with his nose clogged by incense. "I'b used to ibd," Hermione gave him a sceptical look and told him that if it got any worse they were leaving class. He could only nod. It felt strange, he had never had anyone worrying about his clogged nose before in his life, it was nothing severe and as shinobi no one cared about something like it unless it compromised a mission. In a civilian family parents might have given more note on their child's allergies, but all Hatakes suffered from the same thing, it came along with their more-than human senses.

A ladder suddenly from above and everyone started to climb up. Kakashi drew a deep breath, inhaling more of the strong scents, and followed Hermione.

Kakashi was last up and the ladder pulled up and the hatch in the floor closed automatically behind him. He saw the teacher and realised that Ron was right, she _did_ look like a huge insect with millions of sparkling jewellery and glasses that magnified her eyes so that they looked positively abnormal. Hermione said that she was most likely completely fake and that there was practically no truth in _any_ of her premonitions. And that she usually only talked about people's most gruesome deaths. And that Harry was a favourite subject for these particular ones. Harry himself hadn't said anything about her.

Professor Trelawney's eyes grew if possible, even bigger when she spotted Kakashi. He felt uneasy beneath her penetrating gaze.

"You," she said ominously. "Your past is filled with blood; I see a white knife drenched in red blood and a fox, a great fox, and a mask… that mask she said and lifted a hand towards his face." Her voice seemed like she deliberately made it more clouded, not that that made Kakashi feel less unnerved. He was not so sure that she was fake anymore; he desperately tried to hide his reaction to her words. Perhaps he could pass them off as her normal ominous rantings if he played his cards right. "Your future…" she began slowly, the entire class was silent by now, everyone staring at Trelawney and Kakashi. "Your future holds great fame and many names, over a thousand jutsus and a spinning eye along with a sensei's son." Kakashi couldn't hide his twitch. The woman didn't even seem to know of what she spoke, her eyes were somehow clouded, unseeing.

_Naruto?_ Kakashi felt bad, but he couldn't help it. He hadn't even seen the boy since that doomed night almost one and a half year ago. The child's heritage was an S-class secret. He couldn't help it. But he blamed Minato's death on an innocent child.

Everyone stared at him. He had to do something. He laughed. It sounded completely wrong. He _never_ laughed.

"What the hell are jutsus?" he asked. And the tension in the classroom seemed to break.

There were some relieved sniggers and professor Trelawney's trance seemed to break. She mumbled confused that they should pick up their books and quickly described the afternoon's assignment. Dream interpretation. Kakashi tried to act like what had happened earlier was nothing and, unfortunately, this made him act even more out of character. He was currently helping Harry and Ron to make up ridiculous dreams that had never occurred for them to interpret.

Hermione sat a bit off to the side and looked at Kakashi. She still considered Trelawney to be a fraud but the bright-haired kid's reaction had been unmistakeable. She was _so_ going down to the library later.

* * *

It was one-thirty a.m. Kakashi sat in his armchair. He had only been able to sleep for about an hour before he was awoken by nightmares. Professor Trelawney's babbling had affected him more than he dared to admit and the normally empty void was filled with painful feelings of guilt. It was hard to breathe but he couldn't remove the mask. He just… _couldn't_. 

A silent knock on the door was heard just as Kakashi half-seriously had started thinking about throwing himself head-first out the window. Now he guessed that wouldn't happen. He already knew by the smell who his late-night visitor was and wondered what Dumbledore could want him at this time of night. He quickly rose from the chair and faced the old man.

"Ah, finally someone who is awake," the elderly wizard said with a twinkle in his eye. "I have too much on my mind to go to sleep right now," he said. "And since you seem to suffer from a quite similar predicament I was wondering if you would like to join me for a game of chess and some tea in my office. Kakashi didn't know what 'chess' was but it sounded better than sitting alone in his room so he nodded and followed the wizard.

That was the first of many late-night games accompanied by conversation and tea in Dumbledore's office. There were almost always cookies as well.

* * *

A/N: The longest chapter so far is up!! 

Wow, this thing took me less than a day to write

And I _know_ you want to comment :P


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Chapter! Yay!

Thanks so much to everyone who's reviewed!!

-Enjoy

* * *

Hatake Sakumo carried a broad smile on the pale features that put almost all women at his whim. Not that that mattered. Sakumo had barely _looked_ at another woman since Kakashi's mother died in childbirth. 

That smile made all the other parents, shinobi as civilian, in the group slowly inch away from him. A smile on the face of the legendary White Fang was unusual. And mostly, it preceded the gruesome death of an enemy.

Sakumo felt like he was bursting with pride. He wanted to loudly proclaim to the world that it was _his_ son out there on the academy's taijutsu training field. That it was _his_ son that was currently beating up a kid almost three times his age. Of course everyone already knew. Sakumo didn't have to open his mouth.

Kakashi would graduate this year; there was no doubt about it. Perhaps Sakumo should have felt bad about his son entering the legal state of an adult and being thrown into war at such a small age. But all he felt was pride of his genius son. Not even the White Fang himself had graduated so young. Sakumo did, however, feel bad that he wouldn't be home the day of his son's graduation. But a mission was a mission. At least he had made it to the 'parents' day' at the academy. Even if he was late, which was the reason why Kakashi hadn't spotted him yet. He had just begun the current sparring match when his father arrived.

Sakumo elbowed the man next to him in the side. The slightly over-weight, middle aged civilian almost fell over from the force.

"That's my son," Sakumo said proudly and pointed at Kakashi, who was clearly just toying with the other boy. The man looked at him like he had lost it completely. Suddenly an ANBU appeared at Sakumo's side. This time the civilian did fall over.

The ANBU, his face covered in his porcelain bear mask whispered something in the White Fang's ear and after a remorseful look at the fighting five-year old he, along with the ANBU, disappeared from the scene. Their presence was never noticed by the silver haired soon-to-be genin.

* * *

Dumbledore leaned in closer over the book and sighed. There was _nothing_ to be found _anywhere_ about this 'gap'. The only leads they had so far was the coordinates the young Mr Hatake had provided along with a description of a black owl that he had followed through an empty void. 

The arrangements around this 'mission', Mr Hatake had explained, were quite unique. Not only had it been necessary for him to travel through a rip in dimension, but other details were also uncommon. Like the fact that he was to receive the bigger part of the payment _after_ the mission was done, without the common… insurances, that it would actually be paid. Furthermore was their client supposed to provide the means of travel to return when the mission was complete. But the position their village was currently in, and the enormous amount Voldemort had promised was apparently worth the risk.

An owl.

That _had_ to be it! A content smirk slowly spread across the Headmaster's features as he pulled a piece of parchment, ink and a quill out of thin air. He was going to write a letter to an old friend in Japan and ask him to conduct a little experiment. He could only hope that the old geezer was still alive.

* * *

Kakashi was currently sitting in the sun on the lakeshore along with a small group of Gryffindors. He would rather have stayed in the library, reading up on Voldemort and Harry Potter. But the group consisting of Hermione, Ron, Harry (although he seemed reluctant), Neville, a blonde girl introduced as 'Luna Lovegood' and yet another girl named Ginny who apparently was Ron's younger sister, had showed up, insisting that he should join them outside. And Kakashi had a 'false' identity to uphold. Though, in his opinion, the cover story sucked, since he could not do magic to save his life. There had been no time to construct a better plan when the pink toad had barged in. 

He was supposed to help Neville with the older boy's potions homework at the moment. Not that he did a good job. Kakashi was completely mesmerized by the giant octopus that kept wriggling its tentacles above the lake's surface. Ginny was reading a book on goblin wars and Luna read some magazine upside down. The three remaining had walked a short bit away and were located beneath a willow tree, discussing someone called "Padfoot" in hushed voices. Luna's quite distant voice woke Kakashi from his thoughts.

"Did the nargles steal your face?" Kakashi nearly choked on the sweet Ron had given him. He hadn't had eaten sweets in _years_ and found it quite disgusting.

"What!?" he asked when he finally managed to speak.

"Did the nargles steal your face?" the girl clarified. "Is that why you hide it? But I do know that if it is so they still did leave you nose though, I can see it through your mask."

"That's not it." He didn't show anymore signs that her question made him uneasy.

"Hm… Why is it then?" she asked. Seemingly innocent.

"That's none of your business," Kakashi said, it came out harsher than he had intended, but what did she expect? That he would tell her that every time he looked in a mirror he saw a younger version of his father? That every time he met someone, anyone, he saw the disgrace reflect in their eyes? And that, beside all that, he was shinobi, and shinobi should hide their identity, right? It seemed like Luna was going to speak again when a groan was heard from behind. A groan that most certainly belonged to one Ronald Weasley.

"You guy's remember the feast?" Kakashi could swear that he saw the redhead drool. He was taking about food. _Again_.

"Of course Ron, who could forget the sorting?" Hermione said while sitting down next to Luna and Ginny.

"I _was_, talking about the food you know. I'm hungry."

"We know, Ron," Ginny said with a roll of her eyes.

"I don't really get the sorting," Kakashi said, surprising himself. He had intended to ask Dumbledore or Minerva-san about it later, but figured that this was a moment as good as any.

"What do you _mean_ you 'don't get the sorting'," Ron ask, confused as always. "Don't they do some kind of sorting or something at your school?"

"No, why should you create strife when the best would be if everyone stood together against a mutual enemy?" Sure, after the academy students were split up in teams, but that was to promote teamwork, and, though there was some rivalry, Konoha ninja were to stick together, so to speak. They were supposed to stay loyal to the village and fellow ninja.

"Man you start to sound like the Hat," Ron whined. Kakashi opened his mouth to ask what hat he meant, but Luna intercepted.

"You hadn't arrived yet at the first day of school had you?" she asked, not looking up from her upside-down magazine. "The Sorting Hat is, as the name suggests, a hat. And it has been infused with magic so that it has a mind of its own and so that it can judge the students qualities and decide into which house they are to be placed." Her sudden… normalcy, was soon disappeared as she skewed her eyes and looked more closely at the magazine and spoke again. "I'm pretty sure that the nargles have given it all those damages." Silence fell over the group as they glanced around. Trying to ignore Luna's last comment. Not that she seemed to be bothered. At last, or well… anyway, Ron groaned again. He had pulled out his schedule and scrutinized it carefully.

"We have divinations _again_ tomorrow, I can't believe it! Whoever it is that makes these schedules are sadistic and deserves a horrid death!" Ron threw his arms up in exasperation. Kakashi kept his face expressionless and was once again glad of his mask, it seemed like his empty face was more disturbing to people than his actual lack of emotion.

"I won't be coming to _that_ class with you tomorrow," he said. He had told them that he'd keep going to classes with them, since he didn't really know anyone else. Actually, he didn't _have_ to attend any class only because Umbridge had _suggested_ it, but when the original 'mission' turned out to be a sham Kakashi had renamed his current stay at Hogwarts as a reconnaissance expedition. Knowledge was always power, and he knew from experience that wizards, it didn't have to be these in particular, could pose a future threat.

"Well I get that, not only is it complete hoax, but with your allergies… I would never put my foot in that room again," Hermione said which, to Kakashi's puzzlement, made Ron burst out in laughter.

"Yeah, man, you almost _fainted_!" Kakashi didn't have to be reminded. It had been embarrassing and completely out of the order of someone like him, but he had been forced to leave the room halfway into class. So that he wouldn't _faint_.

"Who almost fainted?" A voice was heard from behind. Even Kakashi had a hard time telling those two apart, both in smell _and_ voice. He had no idea how everyone else managed. Perhaps, when you had known them for some time, you just _knew_.

"I have no idea, Fred," so the first speaker had been George, apparently, if they hadn't decided to change names for the day. They seemed to do that a lot, from what Kakashi understood.

"Let's make Ron tell us, George," the first voice spoke again. Kakashi saw from the corner of his eye that both Ginny and Hermione rolled their eyes simultaneously.

"Splendid idea, brother," Fred replied.

"Hey, hey, hey…" Ron said, holding his hands up. "You don't have to 'make' me do anything, alright? I'll just tell you, jeez."

"Aw… Little brother…"

"…you're spoiling all the fun!" Kakashi began to wonder if they somehow shared a mind or if they rehearsed everything when they were alone so that they could complete each other's sentences like that. All the time.

"So, Kakashi," Harry said, ignoring the Weasley brothers. "Did you want to give a try at flying?" Kakashi had showed his interest for the sport (ok, not the sport itself, but the flying part) that Harry and Ron seemed so obsessed of during the lunch and they had both immediately decided that he was getting his first flying lesson, today.

"Sure," Kakashi said and rose from the ground in one, smooth movement. He wanted to be indifferent, but he couldn't deny it, flying seemed really, _really_, cool. Besides, who knew, it _could_ come in handy later on, if he ever had a need to travel by a flying broomstick during some future mission. Both Harry and Ron got up as well and together they went down to the quidditch-pitch and the storage where all students' brooms were stored, along with those belonging to the school itself. Harry told him that the members of the quidditch teams were allowed to borrow the school brooms whenever they liked, he also mumbled something about his 'firebolt' being a lot better than the schools comets and old cleansweepers. The older boys picked out the least battered of the school brooms and they walked together back to the others. Hermione had specifically said that she would like to see Kakashi's first attempt of flying, and insisted that they should return before starting and conduct their lesson there, since she had no intention of moving, as the lakeshore was the best place id you wanted to stick to the sun. She had been completely shocked upon finding out that Kakashi had never flown. He had _graduated_ after all, she kept saying. And Kakashi grew more and more annoyed with his 'cover' story.

When they got back to the others, the Weasley twins not included, they had taken of after some firstyears with the intention of selling some 'merchandise', Harry put the broomstick on the ground. Kakashi placed himself at the left side of the Comet two-sixty as his new 'flying teachers' instructed. He stuck out his right arm over the broom. Ron solemnly told Kakashi that the first step of flying was to get the broom to fly up into your hand when you commanded it.

"Up," Kakashi said, without much conviction. Nothing happened. It didn't even twitch. He had earlier wondered if he could even do this, as a muggle, but had found in a book in the schools vast library that you didn't actually have to possess _any_ kind of magical abilities to fly a broomstick. Even a _muggle_ could do it. So he was disappointed. Ron had told him that it was _very_ unusual that a broom listened at once, and that beginners mostly only made them twitch at first.

"A little more conviction, I think," Ron said with a questioning glance at Harry, who was trying to remember exactly what Madame Hooch had told them during their first year.

"Up," Kakashi tried again. Still nothing.

"Uhm…" Harry opened his mouth at last. "You can't do it if you keep thinking of the broom as an inanimate object, you need to think like it's a person of its own," he explained. Reciting the exact words of Madame Hooch during their second flying-lesson.

_Just great_, Kakashi thought. He _had_ read his own file, and knew how he was faring mentally (not that it changed anything). He knew that he had trouble of even thinking of _people_ as persons. Hell, he barely considered _himself_ a person. He considered himself a tool. And that was what made him such a damn good shinobi, after all. And now he was supposed to think of this… _broom_ as a person? That was just absurd. He decided to try a different approach.

"Up," he told the broom, lacing his words with ice-cold, murderous intent. It worked. The broom flew into his hand with a smack and stayed there, shivering slightly. Harry, Ron and Hermione all gave him terrified looks. "Hey, I did it," Kakashi said with a smirk.

"Uhm, yeah! Great job!" Ron hurried to say.

"Yeah! Let's continue another time shall we?" Harry said, not managing to hide a slight shiver of his voice. What were their problems? Kakashi wondered. It was only a broom, after all.

* * *

Kakashi slowly made his way back to his own room at the seventh floor. He actually wanted to go and train but figured that it would be better to do some more large-scaled training after nightfall. He also intended to go and explore the 'forbidden forest', which seemed like a good place to train away from prying eyes. He doubted that it would be worse than ANBU training-grounds or the Forest of Death back in Konoha, but he couldn't help a small tingle of excitement at the thought of all magical creatures he was most likely to come across. He sort of hoped that he'd find a dragon, even though they were nearly extinct in England and then only (as far as it was known) lived on remote, governmentally protected locations. 

He was glad that he'd been able to excuse himself from Hermione for after dinner, she had insisted that he should join some organisation she liked to call 'Spew' (for some unexplainable reason), all while Ron and Harry tried to talk her out of it. (Well, mostly Harry, Ron was absurdly nervous about tomorrow's quidditch training; it would be the first since he got on the team.) Kakashi had figured that this 'Spew' organisation had something to do with the freedom of house-elves, though he couldn't understand why. From what he had gathered from Dobby, most of these creatures actually _liked_ being enslaved. A ghost was floating about a feet up in the air in front of him and Kakashi froze in his steps. He still hadn't gotten used to the sight of them. He soon recognised this one as Sir Nicholas, or, as the students liked to call him, 'Nearly Headless Nick'. Kakashi had had the opportunity once to take a look at these semi-transparent 'people' with his sharingan once so far, and it was odd. Like they only were misty clouds of chakra, still bearing their own signatures but just being shadows of their old selves.

"I wouldn't take this way if I were you," the ghost said.

"Why not? My room is over there," he hoped that the floating figure would just let him pass, he had no idea if it would have means to stop him with.

"Peeves has put up a little prank of his, involving the bust of Paracelsus," Sir Nicholas explained.

"Who's Peeves?" Kakashi was sure that he'd heard the name mentioned before, but couldn't remember in what context.

"You don't know who Peeves is? Well… he is our resident poltergeist, I am sure that you will run into him eventually. Anyway, I am off to find the Bloody Baron, if you excuse me," the ghost gave a nod and disappeared through a wall. Leaving Kakashi to wonder where exactly 'the bust of Paracelsus' was located.

He found out when he easily avoided a bust made in marble falling towards his head accompanied with evil laughter.

"So you're Peeves?" he asked. There was more laughter. He supposed that it was meant to be intimidating. When he didn't react the laughter died out eventually, and a mischievous-looking, small man in colourful clothing appeared, floating mid-air.

"So who're you old man?" the poltergeist asked and floated a bit closer. "Faceless old man, it seems," he continued in a sing-song voice. Kakashi really wasn't in the mood for this; he wanted to go back to the book he'd left in his room. He could hear footsteps approaching through the corridor and looked at Peeves. He just gave a noncommitting sound to answer Peeves question.

"I can hear footsteps," Kakashi said. "If you really want to catch someone with that trap of yours you should just rig it again. I'll just go to my room," he continued and walked past the poltergeist who had a shocked expression on his face. His pranks had received many reactions before, but indifference? Never. He hurried away down the corridor, planning on _how_ he would make that little punk _react_.

* * *

In his room, Kakashi found a note from Dumbledore telling him that he wouldn't be allowed to go back to training for another two weeks, perhaps one if he recovered well, upon orders from the nurse, and Kakashi settled for a long night of reading. He always had trouble sleeping when he was unable to physically exhaust himself to some extent, at least.

* * *

A/N: Next chapter on it's way soon; now I'll have to get back to writing about the anatomy of a cow… school is so boring at times. 

Oh, and I was thinking of changing the title - since I never really liked it, but I don't know to what, so if you have suggestions, please let me know.

Anyway, thanks for reading!

And I do appreciate it if you press that button and tell me what you think :D


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: _Another_ chapter!! Yippee :D

Thanks so much for all the reviews! _Over 70!_ It's… unbelievable! Thank you so much everyone!

Now, I had to choose between either making this longer and update by Friday or post it as it is, and (as you all probably notice) I settled for the latter option.

And no one's probably reading this note, so please:

-Enjoy

* * *

The caretaker's shabby cat stared him straight in the eye. Kakashi had usually nothing against cats, though being more of a dog person himself, but this particular animal made his skin crawl. 

Kakashi was patiently waiting for the fifth-year Gryffindors to emerge from their tower, he had spoken briefly to the portrait of a fat lady dressed in pink who was guarding the entrance, and found it pathetic that anyone could call this entrance 'secret'. He kept wondering what took them so long, most students had already left to bee in good time for their classes, but Kakashi's 'companions' were still nowhere to be seen.

He was itching to start training again, but knew all to well that he still needed to recover. Technically, he didn't have _that_ low chakra reserves, but the sharingan constantly drained them, and drew energy even when covered and closed, which did nothing to speed up the process of recovery.

* * *

"Kakashi's starting to freak me out, mate," Ron said and clutched his wand tightly. Everyone in the group knew that he referred to yesterday's… _incident_, with the broom. 

"I'm sorry but I have to agree," Hermione said sternly. "If I didn't know better I'd say that he could have been that assassin Harry was so paranoid about." Harry just stared out of the window. Everyone was reluctant to leave the tower. Kakashi was waiting, they knew, outside.

"Why can't you just let it go?" Neville pleaded. Everyone else couldn't understand why he had taken the foreigner's side. He _had_ been there the previous day.

"Who knows, he might've had a rough time." Luna _as well_ now? What was with them? Harry felt tense, like he was going to explode. _If_ Kakashi had been an assassin, _why_ would Dumbledore let him loose around the castle? Everything was so messed up. They knew that they had to head out now; Professor McGonagall did not look kindly upon those who arrived late to her classes.

* * *

Kakashi was impressed. This was no simple henge or genjutsu where the illusion stuck as long as the caster managed to maintain it. This was… _magic_. Whatever was turned by the complicated spells were truly _turned_, inside out, into something else. Today the students were not turning anything or practicing the magic, to Kakashi's disappointment. They were reading about animagi and suddenly, (after Minerva-san's demonstration) the disappointment disappeared. It seemed like an ultimate disguise. To completely transform into an inconspicuous animal and, no matter how much anyone tried (there was a spell to break an animagi out of their transformation, but what was the chance of a shinobi knowing of that? Or the chance of a shinobi being able to _use_ it) you would be unable to prove that the individual was nothing more than a mere animal. Completely undetectable for everyone without possession of sharingan eyes, since the chakras visible colour and signature probably didn't change. And there was no trace of the spell or other kinds of bindings, as there would be to a summon. 

Minerva-san told the class that animagi's did not choose the animal they were to turn into. The animal would somehow represent personal traits and qualities and always have some kind of distinguishing features matching them with their wizard 'form'. Kakashi remembered that the cat she had turned into had had markings around its eyes much like her glasses. She continued by telling them that the first step of becoming an animagus were to find out what kind of animal you would be, and that, if you had sometime created a complete patronus, the spell would've taken the shape of the animal you would turn into. In the mumble that erupted afterwards, it was clear that Harry, if ever becoming animagus, would be a stag.

Kakashi was pretty sure he'd been some kind of dog, probably with a scar across a sharingan eye – he did not know enough about animagus transformations to be sure, but a body part that did not belong to him _and_ carried a bloodline-trait would probably not transform. He could only hope that he wouldn't have been a chihuahua.

* * *

They stood in the corridor outside the History of Magic classroom, fifteen minutes to class. Everyone had been unusually quiet the whole day. Except for Neville, who talked more for some reason, and Kakashi knew that it had to do with him. What he had done, though, to make them like this, he had no idea of. 

He didn't know what caused it, but suddenly Harry, who had been standing a few feet away, talking to Ron and Hermione, seemed to just… boil over.

"_You_ were not there last year!" he yelled, the sound echoing through the nearly empty hallway. "_You_ did not see Cedric being hit by the Killing curse!" Kakashi had had enough with this; he had heard the name Cedric being spoken a few times in hushed tones and had no idea who he was. But he couldn't take more of Potter's self-absorbedness.

"It doesn't seem that awful to me," Kakashi spoke up, gaining many pairs of eyes on him. A particular green pair behind glasses looked like their owner wished to tear him apart. "Seriously, no pain, no blood, no gore no _anticipation_ and no wait? It seems like quite a comfortable way to go to me." It had desired effect, the red colour on Harry's face grew if possible even stronger and anger radiated from him.

"_What_?" Harry said. "_What_ do you know of death? What justifies _you_ to say anything about it? Do _you_ have to sleep every night with the cries of your dying parents that you never got to know ringing in your ears and seeing the glazed-over eyes of a friend?" No, he had to sleep every night with seeing the father he had _thought_ he knew pushing the blade of his own tantō between his ribs, and see the blood float freely. And he had to sleep every night, not seeing the simply _glazed-over_ eyes of a friend, but the crushed body of a friend, and the empty eye socket, since his _friend's_ eye had replaced his own.

Kakashi looked up into the other boy's eyes, and suddenly, perhaps completely out of place, he wished for a growth-spur to kick in. He _hated_ being short, he _hated_ to be looked down upon, _hated_ to be underestimated and he _hated_ being treated like a child. Who was the _famous_ Harry Potter to question him about his life? And assume that _he_ had been worst out? It could not be worse to miss parents that you've never met than to see them slip and loose themselves, with no one there to catch the fall. This was not what he had wanted by provoking Harry. He had not wanted to remember. _He couldn't breathe_.

* * *

Hermione watched Kakashi's back as he hurried away down the corridor. In that last moment she had seen more emotions cross his face in that single second than ever before. And it had made her want to cry. At first he had simply looked angry, and fed up. She couldn't blame him, Harry did become too much at times. But then… He had always seemed so cold, distant, and older than all of them and she could understand _how_ he could've graduated early, but in that last second he had looked so small. So lost. And so hurt. 

She looked to her side, Ron and Harry had joined together in a round of 'Kakashi-bashing', Ron completely forgetting that he had been the one to aggravate Harry in the first place.

* * *

When finally back in his room, Kakashi pulled off his mask and started to claw at his throat. 

_Breathe_.

He did not notice nor care about the red marks left behind by his nails, nor the pain they caused him.

_Breathe._

He knew that every ninja broke at some point, were out of service and could then, eventually, return to their former life as shinobi. Mostly, some never became themselves again. But he was _Hatake Kakashi_. He couldn't break. Not here. Not now. Not _ever_. A small argument should not have been able to tip the scales. A small argument should not have been able to break him.

_Breathe._

He didn't notice that his trembling hands that kept scratching at his throat had started to draw blood. Small red drops had started to trickle down the black fabric of the wizard-robes. He had not noticed Martha's terrified yelp when she saw what he was doing. A second later the canvas only showed a blank surface.

* * *

When Kakashi became aware of his surroundings again he found that he was lying in a hospital bed. Most certainly located in the hospital wing. He barely remembered what had happened and absently reached up to scratch at his itching throat, but his hand med with bandage, carefully wrapped around his neck and he remembered. And became embarrassed. He was a _shinobi_ for Kami's sake. And the people here at Hogwarts had actually been quite kind to him, _despite_ the fact that he had been sent to kill their leader. And how did he repay them? First he suffered from massive chakra-exhaustion, and then he simply broke, forcing them to take care of him _again_. And besides that, they allowed him to stay without asking for anything in return.

* * *

When Harry, Ron and Hermione had been called into the headmaster's office, Harry had been overjoyed. Perhaps Dumbledore had stopped ignoring him and would answer at least _some_ of his questions. Apparently, he was wrong. 

"We were hoping that you could tell us what happened to Mr Hatake this afternoon," Dumbledore stated from behind his desk as Professor McGonagall closed the door behind them and took place beside her employer, giving them a stern look through her square glasses. "We have been told that you were the ones last seen with him."

"Harry and Kakashi got into a fight, Professor," Hermione volunteered. Both Harry and Ron gave her angry looks at that.

"A fight?" McGonagall asked.

"He insulted Cedric's death," Harry growled.

"Uh, yeah. He said that it seemed like a 'comfortable way to go'," Ron concluded.

"It was nothing big," Hermione hurried to say. "Just a small, verbal argument, if you even can call it that. Kakashi took of right after and we haven't seen him since."

"So you have no idea why Mr Hatake was found in his room, trying to tear his own throat out?" Dumbledore asked while putting his fingertips together. Poppy was quite certain that the boy had gotten an anxiety-attack, but would have to ask him a few questions later to confirm it.

"What!?" Hermione yelped. Before any of the adults had time to answer Harry interrupted.

"Why do you care? He's just a bloody _assassin_ that's roaming free around the castle!" Dumbledore and McGonagall looked at each other. The latter looked terrified.

"Minerva, would you like to escort Miss Granger and Mister Weasley out of here?" Professor McGonagall motioned for Ron and Hermione to follow her and the three left the room.

"How do you know about that?" Dumbledore asked, barely louder than a whisper.

"I overheard Kingsley and Professor Lupin talking about it earlier. Did you really think that you could keep it secret that Voldemort's sending _hired killers_ after me now?" Harry nearly yelled.

"Everything said in this room will not leave it, understood?" Dumbledore said with a sudden cold in his voice. Harry nodded. "First of all," Dumbledore continued. "_What_ makes you think that he was hired to kill you? Secondly, how to you _know_ that Voldemort was the one to hire him?"

Harry made a few stuttering sounds. Kakashi _was_ an assassin but _wasn't_ hired to take out Harry? Then _who_ was he supposed to kill?

"I can understand that this is confusing," Dumbledore glanced at him over his spectacles. "But please, give the boy a chance, he has not led an easy life and, for now, he is stuck here." It felt odd, Dumbledore thought, referring to Kakashi as a 'boy', but that was what he really was; even though circumstances had forced him to grow up alarmingly fast.

"I don't get it," Harry mumbled. "Why do you care? He was obviously sent here to _kill_ someone!"

"And yet," Dumbledore said, ignoring Harry's question completely. "And yet you told him that he knows nothing of death?" Harry could only stare at the old man in front of him. "Remember that you are not the only one suffering from horrid memories, Harry. Tell your friends nothing of this. You are free to leave."

* * *

On the other side of the world and beyond a rift in the fabric of the universe, an old man finished up his work for the day. His slave, correction-_chuunin assistant_, left the office and the Sandaime Hokage, also known as Sarutobi, was alone in the room. He looked over to the wall facing the couch where he was currently sitting, his eyes fixing on the picture of the blonde Fourth Hokage. His successor. 

"I'm sorry, Minato," he whispered. "It was a bad thing to do; I should never have sent him out there alone." It had been two weeks. Of course, there had been no set time limit on the mission, since Kakashi had been supposed to travel both through the gap and then to the other side of a world much larger than their side. But those facts did nothing to calm Sarutobi's nerves. It had not been the most clear of missions, and the Third had worried a lot during those last weeks. The fact that there was no way of checking the background of their client that was common for these types of missions and the fact that most of the payment was to be received later on unnerved him to no end. About a week ago, it had also hit him that they had no knowledge of the political situations in the 'other world'. He might've just thrown his successor's student into a war from which there was no coming back.

* * *

The Gryffindors ignored Kakashi for the rest of the week. Not that he didn't return the favour. He spent his days in the library, reading up on facts of the wizarding world the seemed necessary to know to blend in, and when he felt satisfied with that he simply started to read through every book in the place. It would take time, it was a _huge_ library. He didn't mind though, he enjoyed reading and everything about this world was so interesting. 

It was a rare thing to see him without his nose buried in a book, even when just walking through the corridors or taking his meals at the teachers' table in the great hall. Kakashi discovered that it was a great way to keep people from asking annoying questions. He simply pretended to be too engrossed to notice.

The books were also a way to keep him from remembering. The nurse had told him that he had suffered from an 'anxiety attack', and that it could happen again. It didn't even need to have any apparent triggers. He should just try to not go back to the feelings he had experienced before the last… 'attack', she had told him. It all made him feel so... _weak_. He couldn't wait until he could go back to training. The first thing he'd do then was _totally_ to go into the forest and blow something up. Something big.

And at the same time, while trying to _not_ think of home, and Obito and his father and Sensei, he tried to find information about the gap and possible ways to contact Konoha. So far, there was nothing.

Saturday afternoon, Kakashi found himself standing near the quidditch-pitch, looking over at the Gryffindor teams practice with something he would _never_ acknowledge as longing. There was a group of Slytherin students standing slightly to the side of the pitch, mocking the team. No doubt they were verbally attacking Ron, he had just gotten on the team and this was, if Kakashi recalled correctly, their first actual training since.

A girl, Katie, got hit in the face by the big red ball and clutched her nose. Ron was being even more of a klutz than usual, apparently. The training continued for a short while before the girl's bleeding became worse and they called of the training. Kakashi sighed as they made their way back up to the castle and went back to his book. Hopefully _reading_ about Harry Potter would not cause him to try and rip own his throat out. Hopefully.

* * *

And, unknown to Kakashi, many people wondered where the _hell_ Peeves had gone off to. Mr Argus Filch did odd dances off happines down the hallways, even making some of the less-brave first years burst out into tears. The ghosts of Hogwarts were holding crisis-meetings. The last time Peeves had done nothing for _almost a week;_ it had been the calm before a storm.

* * *

A/N: All done! 

If you have any title suggestions, let me now.

And _please_ tell me what you think and I can make this story better for everyone :D


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Update – Yay!!

Thanks SO much to everyone who reviewed, over _80_ reviews, that makes like, 8.88 reviews/chapter… that's just… Wow :D

Enjoy-

* * *

"It scares me," the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha looked out over the village, _his_ village, from the lookout above the Hokage monuments.

"What does?" Jiraya didn't really expect his sensei to answer. He had gone into one of his 'Hokage moods' as Jiraya had named them. He had gotten them ever since he attained his post and had to make decisions he didn't like. And ever since had he felt that problems he had nothing to do with were his to fix. It was truly annoying.

"He is only five, I know his father was not much older but still. I am throwing into a war in which he has no place." Sarutobi's voice was absent, Jiraya held no doubt that that last statement was _not_ an answer to his question.

"You're talking about the Hatake kid, right?"

"It's wrong," the Hokage stated with a sigh. Perhaps he did listen, after all? Time to pull him out of it…

"Well, its not like Iwa refrains from using kids, and besides, if Kakashi continues to develop as we _know_ he will, _our_ kid will be a hell lot better than most of _their_ adults. And besides, you _could_ always talk to Sakumo about it," his sensei threw him a look. Yep, he was not as deep down as Jiraya had thought. "Come on, Minato wanted me to go and get you for ramen, his treat!" Jiraya gave a broad smile and grabbed the older man before he ran down the steep road in a breakneck speed.

He didn't feel too bad about lying to his sensei and the village's Hokage. Minato had actually said that it was the _Hokage's_ treat when he'd invited pretty much everyone he knew to ramen (and everyone he knew involved quite a lot of people…). But then again, Jiraya did not doubt that his blonde student would attain his dream and become Hokage one day. So it was not a _complete_ lie.

* * *

Ron slammed his book on astronomy shut.

"Tearing his _own throat_ out! Who does that?" Everyone knew what he meant. Harry looked up from his essay on Jupiter's moons and Hermione stopped knitting at one of her elf hats and her conversation with Ginny was effectively cut of.

It was Sunday night and they had all successfully avoided the subject of Kakashi for the last five days.

"I mean, he's like some sort of suicidal freak," Ron continued. Hermione looked a bit hurt at that. Not that any of the boys understood why. She walked up to their table and sat down in the vacant seat.

"Look," She began, "I've been snooping around a bit…" Harry and Ron threw looked at her sceptically. Hermione was capable of serious _snooping_? "Okay, okay," she waved her hand in the air. "I went and asked madam Pomfrey, apparently he had panic attack."

"Why would he get one of those?" Ron asked grumpily. He would've liked to stick to his 'suicidal freak' theory.

Harry didn't say anything. What would he say? That Kakashi actually was an assassin? Professor Dumbledore _had_ forbidden him to speak of it. Though he _had_ told Sirius of it in a letter, in code, of course, but figured that it'd been all right. Sirius was a member of the _Order_, after all.

"Think about it Ron," Hermione said with a sigh. "He might've graduated early from his school, but he's still too young to legally be an adult, perhaps his parents sent him here without his consent? Besides, it's got to be hard to be _that_ smart, I mean he's _years_ younger than anyone in his class was and I doubt that he's got any friends his own age." Ron gaped at her. _Hermione_ just said that it could be a _bad_ thing to be smart!

A sudden knock on the window gained their attention. Outside, on the windowsill, were a proud, long-eared owl.

"Isn't that Hermes?" Hermione asked.

"It is!" Ron exclaimed, "But why in the world are Percy writing to me?" he said as he opened the window and let the owl in.

Ron confirmed that it was Percy's handwriting on the envelop and opened it when Hermione enthusiastically insisted on it. They all wondered what the letter would say, no one had forgotten Percy's rather… violent break with the Weasley family. Ron unfolded the long letter and began to read. The further he got, he more bitter the look on his face turned. When he finished, he threw the letter over to his two friends who both leaned in to read.

When they had finished, Harry assured Ron that he wouldn't turn violent if Ron 'broke the bonds' between them to protect his status as prefect. Ron snatched the letter back and cursed over Percy as he ripped the letter to pieces and threw them on the fire.

"Come on," he said hurriedly to take Harry's mind of the letter. "We have to finish this before morning," he pulled the essay he was writing for professor Sinistra to him.

"Oh, just give it to me," Hermione said.

"Huh?" was Ron's… elaborate, response. Earlier, Hermione had refused to help the boys with their homework.

"Give it to me and I'll correct it," Hermione sighed.

"You serious? Oh, Hermione, you're saving our lives!"

Harry thanked Hermione as well, though more quietly, and both boys pushed their essays over to the female part of the trio.

Harry was exhausted. And he felt sick. Not because of exhaustion but of the letter crumpling to ashes in the fireplace. He was being picked on constantly in the daily prophet, assassins were sent to Hogwarts and now _Percy_ turned against him as well. He had known the older Weasley for four years, _four years_! And he still thought Harry too be unbalanced and possibly violent? That was a description that fit better on Kakashi than him. Breaking down for nothing, _and_ being and assassin? Definitely unbalanced and violent.

Harry decided that he now could understand how his godfather felt. Nearly everyone in the Wizarding-world thought Sirius to be a dangerous and ruthless murderer. And a devoted follower of Voldemort.

Harry blinked. He had just seen something in the fire that just _couldn't_ be there. It had to have been a delusion from thinking of Sirius.

Hermione had finished going over Ron's essay on the moons of Jupiter and the youngest Weasley boy was currently vowing her his eternal devotion when they noticed Harry on his knees in front of the fire.

"Uhm… Harry? What are you doing?" Ron's voice broke the sudden silence.

"I just saw Sirius' head in the fire." Harry was pretty sure you did that with floo-powder, he just hadn't remembered to ask his godfather when they last met. He had been totally freaked-out when he'd seen his godfather's head in that very same fireplace the previous year.

"Sirius' head?" Hermione repeated. "_Sirius_" She gasped and stared at the flames, which Sirius' head now floated in between. His hair was as long as ever, but he did look a thinner than when Harry had seen him last. Perhaps it was just the fire.

"I was starting to think that you'd go to bed before everyone else had gone," Sirius said with a smile. He told them that he'd checked every hour to see if they were alone so that he could talk to them and had to reassure Hermione that no one had seen him – well, discovered him, anyway. The conversation moved on to Umbridge, Sirius told Harry that she was not a Death Eater, and that Harry's scar had been hurting when she had touched him in detention. They found out that Fudge was afraid that Dumbledore would raise an army within Hogwarts to take over the ministry – something they all found ridiculous. Had Dumbledore _wanted_ to be minister in the first place… Fudge would never even have gotten a chance.

Sirius told them that there was still no news of Hagrid.

"And about Mr Hatake," Sirius added after he'd told them that Hagrid would pull through, no matter what. "I've talked to Dumbledore; he says it's nothing to worry about." Harry mouthed the word _assassin_ to Sirius and gave a questioning look. Sirius looked him straight in the eye. "Like I said, Dumbledore says that it's _nothing_ to worry about," Sirius repeated.

"He tried to kill himself, you know," Ron told the head in the fire.

"He _did not_ try to kill himself Ron!" Hermione burst out and smacked Ron over the back of his head. Harry and Sirius shared a look that definitely said that they'd try _not_ to piss off Hermione in the future. Girls were terrifying. "He had a panic attack," Hermione stated coldly.

"He did?" Sirius was genuinely surprised. From what he'd heard of the boy that seemed _very_ out of place. "Perhaps you should try to be nicer to him, he can't have it easy, being this far from friends and family and all," Sirius didn't tell them but he would _very much_ have liked to meet with Hatake Kakashi himself. The kid _scared_ Snape? _Snape_ out of all people! He figured that if he weren't going to meet the assassin in person, the least he could do was to try and make Harry, Ron and Hermione his friends, so that Sirius could force a full report out of them later.

* * *

It was odd. Really, _really_ odd. Kakashi wouldn't even have noticed it if he hadn't looked with his sharingan in that exact direction in that exact moment. He had been trying, yet again, to cut of the chakra stream to his eye, as his appointed 'teacher' from the Uchiha clan kept telling him to do. Not that he seemed to be one bit successful.

Kakashi had the previous day (or night…) when sitting in Dumbledore-sama's office discovered that he could actually _see_ magic with the sharingan. He couldn't see it as clearly as chakra, but it was there – a slight blur of his vision wherever there was an ounce of more… 'concentrated' magic. He hadn't noticed it before, but the sharingan's sight was not as sharp within the castle as it usually was. Some of the objects in Dumbledore's office had just been blurs. The bird was the most interesting, a phoenix – Fawkes, it had only been a large red blotch in his vision. And even more interesting, or perhaps disturbing – Kakashi couldn't decide, was that the bird had been flaring with chakra.

He had gotten into an interesting discussion with Dumbledore about chakra combined with magic and the similarities and differences between the two… forces after that. Dumbledore had been the one to point out that, perhaps, magic carried some of the energy of the user with it, and that was why his 'wheely-eye', as the old man had named it, could see it. And a small experiment later, Kakashi had discovered that, with a bit of concentration, he could see faint chakra signatures and faded colours in the magic. It was fascinating. There was no doubt that magic and chakra was two completely separated things but still…

Right now, Kakashi was sitting on the floor next to the fireplace in his room. He could faintly distinguish a steady stream of magic going past his fireplace just above the outlet that connected many fireplaces in this part of the castle to a common chimney. He had to strain his quite extraordinary hearing to pick up anything above the crackling of the fire. He heard a whispering conversation and was surprised how incredibly _stupid_ those wizards were. He could _hear_ them and he now _knew_ that they were discussing some matters that was to be kept secret.

He recognised the voices of Harry, Ron and Hermione, plus an older man's voice. He heard the name 'Sirius' named and the identity of the man was revealed. Sirius black- Dumbledore had spoken briefly about him and Kakashi did know how to read newspapers. The man who was, apparently innocent, but still accused of murder of loads of people and Harry Potter's godfather had come _here,_ in a time like this?

Seriously? 'Codes could be broken,' what kind of excuse was that to not reply in a letter but instead _show up in person_? Codes could be broken, but careless conversations were easily listened in on.

Kakashi became cold as the group moved on to yet another topic. _Him_. He heard Ron saying that he'd tried to kill himself. _No way_. He was _never_ going to walk down the same path as his father had. Never.

The older man - Sirius, told them to _be nicer_ to Kakashi, and he felt an unexpected flash of anger inside of him. What was he? A child that needed to be taken care of? He also felt a bit disappointed in Dumbledore, had the old man gone around and told _everyone_ the information Kakashi had _trusted_ him with? But then again, Sirius was a member of their 'secret' _Order_, and Kakashi had been sent to kill Dumbledore…

'He can't have it easy', well there was at least _one_ thing that was true. Soon the group in the Gryffindor common room started to talk about Hogsmeade trips and Kakashi tuned out. He picked up one of the heavy books that lay strewn across the room and started to read about the fourth Great Goblin War and some goblin lord named Rugrik the foul.

He pulled the hitai-ate down to cover his sharingan when he saw a whole, human head appearing in the fireplace. He looked up and straight into warm, brown eyes that seemed to have a cold glint in them. Kakashi knew that glint. It was the look most people received after years of struggle, war, and death. Long black hair framed a thin face and the flames around it cast eerie shadows around his features.

This was definitely strange. A head floating, seemingly unsupported in the middle of a fire? It unnerved the young ANBU captain. He was not as disturbed as he would've been though, if he hadn't read about 'floo powder'. It was a way of travelling that Kakashi had decided was _nothing_ for him. From what he had read, the experience of simply travelling this way seemed awful. He didn't even want to think about how it had to feel if one _maintained_ the connection and _stayed_ there.

The head had been there less than a fraction of a second when Kakashi's hand darted out, faster than a human eye could see, and grabbed the man by the hair. To his surprise, he didn't even feel the flames that lapped around his hand and arm. He had read that the fire became like this when connected in a maintained floo-powder link, but he hadn't really believed it. He had seen that the head had begun to fade when he grabbed it but it seemed to become solid as soon as he got his hold. Kakashi did _not_ like being spied on.

"Sirius Black, I presume?" Kakashi said coldly after the man had let out a yelp of surprise. To Kakashi's puzzlement, the man did not seem to be unnerved by being held by the hair by someone he'd never met before while his head seemed to be separated from his body. The fugitive and member of 'the Order' even had the nerve to _smile_.

"Wow!" he exclaimed. "Snape said you were god but mate, you're _really_ good!" Kakashi's eye twitched. "I just had to see the guy that managed to scare him like that, not even _Voldemort_ unnerves the nuisance like you do!" Kakashi felt kind of good that Sirius hadn't called him 'kid'.

"Is this not a bad place to talk about such things?" Kakashi asked, dropping some of the ice in his voice. "I _did_ hear you talk to _those three_ earlier."

"You _did_!?" the man's eyes widened in shock. "How the heck did you do _that_? What spell did you use? I know that you can _monitor_ and seal off fireplaces but _listen in_ on them? And spells used for listening of _any_ kind usually doesn't work in Hogwarts, that so _cool_ you have to teach me how you did it did you buy some of those extendable ears from the Weasley twins and somehow modified them?" Kakashi couldn't believe this guy. He sighed.

"Snape didn't tell you I'm a muggle then? Your voices echoed through the smoke-vents…" Kakashi answered Sirius' babbling questions.

"Through the smoke-vents..?" Sirius mumbled before widening his eyes again. "You're a _what_!?" he roared, hadn't Kakashi winced on the close proximity of Sirius outburst and his sensitive ears – he would have laughed at the man's expression. They were both quiet for what seemed like an eternity, Kakashi seemingly deep in thought and Sirius staring wide-eyed at the boy.

"You can let go of my hair now." Sirius broke the silence. Kakashi looked up with a tired look.

"Oh, sorry," he replied and let go of the black, tangled mess.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the shortness of this chapter... more action comming soon (hopefully)

Next chapter'll be up next weekend (probably…) ;P

And please, let me know what you think!

Oh, and also, I have been notified that there are some similarities between this fic and some others, and of it becomes too unoriginal please let me know. Any similarities are completely coincidental but I'd very much like to keep this as original as possible...


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: New chapter:D

The 100 mark of reviews is passed!! THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!

Now, on with the story and the longest chapter so far! ;)

* * *

Kakashi stumbled out of bed and yawned widely. He couldn't remember what had woken him, but _Kami_, he was tired. He hadn't been this tired (while conscious at least) since… no he couldn't remember when he'd been this tired. Perhaps it had been a bad idea to go swimming in the lake in the middle of the night, but he had _really_ wanted to see that octopus up close and been unable to sleep.

A knock was heard on the door. So _that_ was what had woken him up. He pulled his mask on and tripped at his way too big pyjamas on his way to open the door. Dumbledore-sama was way too kind, Kakashi thought. He provided food, shelter and clothes, even more than that actually – and he asked for nothing in return. What the old man didn't know was that Kakashi had appointed himself to be his bodyguard to the extent it was possible without breaking his cover – it would be impossible for Kakashi to follow him around everywhere. A kage bunshin would have worked, perhaps, but Kakashi knew that the wizard would not accept it and besides, his chakra was too strained as it were. He _hated_ feeling so weak.

* * *

Harry and Ron sighed simultaneously as they waited behind Hermione outside Kakashi's door. She had talked them into going there and 'invite' him to come to breakfast with them after last night. Harry remembered Dumbledore and Sirius' words about 'trying to be nice', Ron remembered the latter's. Both suspected that Kakashi was Hermione's new 'project', and prayed that she'd at least give up on S.P.E.W. now. After they'd knocked a third time, Harry thought that Kakashi might be down in the great hall already – he had always seemed to be done with breakfast when they got down, the door opened. Kakashi stood there looking completely dishevelled. That alone was a surprise, Kakashi had always seemed… well, _un_dishevelled. If you didn't count his hair (seriously, how many thirteen-year olds had _white_ hair?). The mask was in place, as always, Harry wondered where the weird, metal-plated headband had gone. Ron had a theory that Kakashi's face was freckled or something and felt self-conscious about it – hence the reason of the mask. Harry though that the chance that nargles had stolen it was bigger than _Kakashi_ having _freckles_. Both boys glanced at each other when they noticed the long scar that ran across Kakashi's left eyelid and down beneath the mask. Ron wondered what kind of spell could have caused something like _that_, and Harry couldn't comprehend what someone so young had been doing in a fight with knifes.

That was when Hermione's… _girlyness_ kicked in, at full speed. She couldn't _help_ it. She knew that Kakashi was technically only a year or so – perhaps a little more, younger than them, but _still_! It was clear that he hadn't started growing for real yet, he was about the same height as the most first- and second year boys. And he looked so small, and so _cute_, when he stood there in the doorway with an oversized, striped pyjamas and looked like he'd just woken up. He probably hadn't slept well, considering the black rings around his eyes. Wait, _eyes_? The left one was closed, Hermione gasped when she saw the scar. Was there an empty socket behind that eyelid? Was that why he covered it? It didn't look all caved in though… Hermione had an urge to hug and comfort Kakashi who she now suddenly had started to think of as a small child, it seemed.

Kakashi sighed. He knew _that_ look. He hadn't seen it in years though, not since he'd made a name of himself. But before (_especially_ during his genin and chuunin years) he had gotten it _a lot_ from insane amounts of kunoichi.

"What do you want?" he grumbled. Ron realised that Hermione would probably say something _very_ embarrassing if she spoke, judging by the look on her face, and clamped a hand over her mouth.

"We were wondering if you'd like to come to breakfast with us," Harry hurried to say.

"Though you might want to change first," Ron added with a hint to the blue and white pyjamas that was currently drowning the shorter boy. Kakashi made a noncommittal sound.

"I'll be right there," he said and slammed the door in the faces of the trio.

* * *

Robes were _evil_. Kakashi struggled with the black, restricting garments. How the _hell_ had Minato-sensei managed _fight_ in this kind of clothes? Perhaps the Hokage-robes were differently designed. There was a tearing sound, which Kakashi in his tired struggle to put the clothes on failed to notice.

"Uhm… Kakashi?" Harry said when Kakashi opened the door again, the headband in place this time. "You might want to change again…" Kakashi looked down at himself. _Just great_. The robes were only held together by a few, black threads. He turned back into his room.

"One minute," he said and slammed the door again. _Great, just great._ He realised that he had just destroyed his only wizard-like clothes. Now he was standing with a striped pyjamas and an ANBU uniform. He had a cover to uphold, dammit. He put on the plain, black ANBU issue pants and the skin-tight sleeveless shirt. At least those pieces of clothing weren't _completely_ out of place. He hoped that the slightly reddish bloodstains he'd never managed to wash out entirely wouldn't show if he stood in the sun. Hopefully he was the only one who'd see them since he knew where they were supposed to be. He opted for a second if he should put on the heavy ANBU cloak to perhaps fit in better, but decided against it. He would be cooked in it; the sun was already sending immense heat in through the window.

* * *

He looked like a wannabe-ninja; Harry decided when Kakashi came out of his room again. Though he looked kind of cool, Harry had to admit, not as dorky as the figures in Dudley's countless videogames that Harry _never_ had wanted to try out.

Ron just gaped at the shorter boy's left arm. Kakashi was _younger_ than him and had a _tattoo_, Ron had tried to convince his mother for _years_ that she'd let him have one. And if he would ever be getting one he wouldn't just do some little swirly thing, he'd do something _big_ and _way_ cooler. It never hit him that it might have been just _that_ that had Mrs Weasley so against it.

Hermione, on her side, had to drop the pretence of Kakashi as a child, there was no left-over baby fat anywhere on him, as far as she could see… and that shirt was too tight to cover anything.

Kakashi suddenly felt naked beneath their stares and considered running back into his room and taking the cloak after all. Then he realised how ridiculous his previous thought had been. As if he even _cared_ if they thought he looked weird. He felt more concerned about being too obvious and blowing his cover. Then, for a split second, he thought that Ron recognised the ANBU-tattoo before realizing that it could not be the case

"Are we going?" Kakashi asked when he figured that the staring had kept going for too long. His voice was back in its normal, flat tone.

"Oh, right… yeah," Ron said. Kakashi rolled a visible eye and took the lead down the corridor.

Then, the first bomb hit. It was big, and green, and in lesser time than it took for Ron to blink Kakashi was gone and freezing water flooded his sneakers. The first, green, water balloon was then followed by a pink, then a blue and an orange. Soon the trio were running as fast as they could down the hall, desperately trying to dodge freezing water projectiles. They turned around a corner and darted down the stairs, all of them soaked to the skin, when they noticed Kakashi standing leaned against a wall, completely dry, and Peeves howling laughter turned into a despaired cry. Apparently he was out of balloons.

"You're going to pay, _Faceless old man_!" Peeves screeched before disappearing with a bang.

"He's not really good at coming up with insulting nicknames, is he?" Kakashi asked with a raised eyebrow. He turned down the stairs again and they all walked down to the great hall.

"He's always made up pretty good ones before…" Ron mumbled, not really knowing what to say. Harry just stared at the younger teen's back. He was shocked, cold, and wet. And annoyed. Sometimes, (okay, almost all the time) he agreed with Filch that Peeves should be thrown out of the castle.

Hermione, despite being as cold, wet and shocked as Harry, couldn't keep from wondering how Kakashi had been able to stay dry, and _how_ he'd managed to get that far so fast, _without them seeing him_, and how he'd managed to keep his feet dry, the floor had literally been flooded. She _really_ wanted to learn _that_ spell. All water repelling spells that could possibly be used in the way Kakashi seemed to have done took too long and had too many incantations to them to be done that fast. The ones she knew would have you completely soaked by the time you were done if you were surprised by rainfall.

They sat down at the Gryffindor table, Kakashi earning questioning looks from the few teachers sitting at the head table that were used to him sitting by them. Professor Sprout looked extra disappointed, since she kept discussing Asian plants and herbs with him during breakfast. Kakashi had red up on the subject and could actually answer her questions now, even though those answers mostly were monosyllabic, it didn't seem to do anything for her to find their 'conversations' less interesting. The teachers probably wondered about his clothing and the reason why the three fifth-years he walked with were all soaked.

Hermione, wet, cold, and deep in thought fell off her chair when an owl collided with her face – she had completely forgotten her Daily Prophet subscription. She paid the post-owl and gasped when she had folded out the paper.

Harry and Ron leaned in closer, to meet with a large picture of a smiling Umbridge. They read the headline above, declaring that Dolores Umbridge had been appointed as Hogwarts first 'High Inquisitor'. Hermione read the rest of the article out loud, gaining angry comments and then silence as the text claimed that Umbridge had been awarded with 'immediate success' as a response to the new Defence Against the Dark Arts method of teaching and then proceeding to overall bashing of previous DADA teachers.

Kakashi ignored them and ate his toast.

"Well, at least now we know how Umbridge got here! Fudge accepted this decree and forced her on us! And now, _now_ she's gotten the authority to _inspect_ other teachers!" Hermione was almost hyperventilating now and Kakashi looked up too find that she had a facial expression eerily similar to Rin's just before she would send Obito flying. "I just can't believe it!" she cried.

Harry agreed, though in a calmer way, while looking at his hand where the words '_I must not tell lies_' were faintly visible. Ron's reaction was the weirdest of all. He smiled.

"What?" both Harry and Hermione asked simultaneously.

"Oh, I just can't _wait_ to see McGonagall inspected, Umbridge is _so_ going to get it."

A second later Hermione hopped up, urging them to hurry, they did _not_ want to be late if Umbridge would be inspecting Professor Binns' class.

She weren't, and as usual, everyone in class got a nice, hour long nap. Except for Hermione, who was taking notes as usual, and Kakashi, who was trying to conjure up a plan so that he could get out of Divinations without earning to much suspicion, or rather, without seeming too weak – he had already promised Neville and Ron that he'd go, Neville had pleaded for help and Ron had begged that he shouldn't leave them if Umbridge happened to be there. Kakashi cursed his stupidity, he should have paid more attention and actually _listened_ to what they had said, and not just agreed.

Umbridge were not there during Potions class either. Harry noted with disappointment that he'd gotten a 'D' on his essay about moonstones, but his essay was snatched back by Snape as soon as he'd given it to Harry. He looked up questioningly, and saw Kakashi looking at Snape with his eyebrow raised, and Snape staring back, with a face looking even more constipated than usual. When Harry got the essay back the large 'D' was exchanged with an "A".

The rest of Potions class carried on without a hitch, and everyone noted surprised that Neville's potion was just as turquoise and thick as Hermione's. Hermione herself, who had been sitting next to Neville, kept wondering why Snape didn't lash out and take away Gryffindor points or even give detention when Kakashi calmly instructed Neville on how to do the assignment, helping him with every step.

* * *

At lunch they got involved in a discussion about grades with Fred and George after Hermione had, not so discreetly, asked what they had gotten on their Moonstone essays. Harry thought with guilt about the 'D' that had originally adorned his paper but said nothing about it.

The subject moved on to Umbridge and it was revealed that she had been inspecting Fred and George's class with Professor Flitwick earlier and that she hadn't been too bad. She had just been sitting there, taking notes.

"Do you know what's up with Peeves by the way?" Fred asked and leaned in closer.

"Peeves?" Neville asked.

"Yeah, he'd been acting strangely…" said George.

"…He's occupied the Arithmancy classroom for _hours_ now…" Fred continued.

"…Muttering and drawing up _diagrams_ and stuff on the blackboard!"

"Even the Bloody Baron's having trouble getting him out of there." Fred concluded. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"Who care about Peeves? We have to leave for class now," Hermione said, forgetting that the boys had Divinations while she herself had Arithmancy, and that classroom was currently occupied by Peeves and therefore class was cancelled… Fred and George were so kind to point this out to her, which did nothing to lighten her mood.

"_Boys_," she muttered under her breath. "I just hope you two haven't been testing any more of your… 'products' at first-years," she spoke up. "As a prefect, I would have no other choice than taking points from Gryffindor and giving you detention." Ron looked mortified; she said that she'd draw points from _her own_ house!

"Hermione!" both Weasley twins gasped, playing hurt. "We're not _testing_ anything! We're selling, and they are buying, completely informed and aware of the risks!"

"Whatever," Hermione growled. "You have class," she said and stalked away towards the library.

* * *

Kakashi had just seated himself by the same low table as Harry and Ron when the hatch reopened and the disgrace-of-a-toad came climbing out, puffing slightly from the exercise. The suddenly lower volume of talking made Professor Trelawney, who had been handing out some sheets on dream-reading, turn around.

Umbridge greeted Trelawney in her usual, overly sweet voice and confirmed that the Divinations teacher had gotten her message about inspecting the class this afternoon. Her smile as she took one of the puffy chairs and placed it beside Trelawney's made most of the students want to retch. Kakashi was glad that no one did, if they had he would have surely passed out from the smell, since the way this whole tower was… scented, already made his head woozy.

Professor Trelawney announced that they'd keep working with prophetic dreams and pulled her shawls around her more tightly.

"Would you please pair up and decipher each others' latest vision using '_The Oracle'_," she made a turn to go back to her own chair, but spotted Umbridge and turned to two girls, Kakashi blamed it on the incense that he couldn't remember their names, Lavender and…? Pervy? No, that couldn't be it…

Umbridge was already taking notes in a speed that Kakashi almost considered lethal while Harry and Ron kept arguing about who should make up a dream this time.

"Well, uhm… Kakashi!" Ron exclaimed. "You can tell us what you've dreamt and we can 'read' it!"

Blood, death, Sensei, Obito, _father_, as if he would tell them _those_ dreams. He pointed out that he was only there to learn about the educational system, it was their assignment. Ron muttered something about Kakashi being too much like Hermione before Harry made up something about him drowning Snape in his kettle.

Professor Trelawney was only a few tables away and would soon be coming towards them. Umbridge had gotten up now and followed the Divinations teacher around the classroom.

"Tell, me," Umbridge interrupted Trelawney's conversation with some boy, Dean. "How long have you been employed here at Hogwarts?"

"Almost sixteen years," came the reluctant reply. Umbridge asked some more questions about the terms of her employment and then moved onto asking Trelawney of her family.

"So your great, great grandmother was the famed Cassandra Trelawney?" the eyes behind Sibyll Trelawney's round, magnifying glasses narrowed for a second and she straightened her back.

"She was," Trelawney confirmed. Then Umbridge asked if Trelawney herself was the first one to have the 'gift'. She clearly considered Trelawney to be fake. The toad like smile on Umbridge's face grew wider when Trelawney explained with a stutter that the 'gift of second sight' often skipped three generations.

Then Umbridge asked if she could predict something. Trelawney froze. She made some lame excuse and said something about not understanding what the 'High Inquisitor' had meant. Umbridge kept pushing her and eventually she exclaimed, clearly upset, that the 'inner eye' could not obtain visions on command.

"Alright then," Umbridge said, as sweetly as ever, and made a note on her sheet. Then Trelawney, who seemed to become desperate started to speak about how Umbridge were in great, horrible danger while she trembled and pointed at the other teacher dramatically.

"Hm…" Umbridge made another note. "If that's the best you can accomplish…" Kakashi sneezed. He could feel the eyes of everyone else on him. "Did you want anything, Mr Hatake?" Umbridge asked, obviously annoyed that she had been interrupted.

Kakashi didn't know what compelled him to do it. Perhaps it was the heavy incense and perfumes that had gotten to his head, or the fact that he _knew_ that Trelawney wasn't fake. Probably both, his somewhat clouded mind decided.

"Acdually, I did," he silently cursed his nose for being all clogged up. "I know what you think, but Professor Trelawney here really isn' fake."

"Is that so?" Umbridge sneered.

"I'd is," Kakashi kept his voice as flat as ever.

"And you can _prove_ this to me?"

"I can," Kakashi glanced at the students around him. "She said something abou' me the first time I came here."

"Yeah," Ron put in. "Something about some 'son' or something. And a fox..."

"And 'jutsus', whatever _that_ is," someone put in.

"And 'a spinning eye'," the girl who couldn't be named 'Pervy' said in a solemn voice.

"And you are going to prove to me that this is a _real_ premonition _how_? Exactly." When Umbridge had finished Kakashi rose from his chair and walked around the table. "And since _when_ does Hogwarts clothing regulations _not_ apply to you?"

"You never said tha' they did in the first blace," Kakashi looked up into her eyes. Damn, even this toad-woman was taller than him. "I can't prove the whole bremonition, but some of its true." Kakashi lifted his hitai-ate and opened the sharingan, the three tomoes slowly circling around the pupil.

* * *

Umbridge stared into the red eye; the three spinning dots seemed to draw her closer. _Spinning, spinning, spinning._ Her mind went blank. After what seemed like an eternity, the boy closed his scarred eyelid and pulled down the strange headband. Umbridge shook her head a bit, it seemed somewhat clouded… She picked up her sheet of notes and made a large X all over it, turned it over and wrote 'She's Good' all over the paper. Then she sat down in her chair, the notes lying forgotten on Trelawney's desk, and told the other teacher to pick up her lesson.

* * *

"That was _so_ wicked man!" Ron screeched when they all got out of the classroom. Harry was terrified, he hadn't seen it properly, but even a glint of a red eye made chills run all over his body.

"Is it magical, like Professor Moody's?" Hermione asked. Even _she_ didn't see the danger in red eyes, Harry mused. Didn't anyone think? _Helloo? Voldemort_ had red eyes!

"Who is 'Professor Moody'?" Kakashi asked. He _knew_ that it had been a bad idea to reveal the sharingan… stupid, evil, incense. It made his head quit working.

"Uhm, he's an ex-auror who has this weird eye that he can see through things and stuff with!" Ron exclaimed.

"Then, no it's nothing like 'Professor Moody's', I lost my eye and this one is simply a replacement. A combination of muggle technology and magic. It's a new, Japanese thing." He hoped that they would by that story, if he said that it was entirely magical, he had no doubt that Hermione would read up on _everything_ concerning magic and regaining lost sight. Kakashi was pretty sure that none of those books would contain anything about the sharingan.

"That's _so_ cool!" Ron, again. "But why do you keep it covered? I mean, if you _can_ have perfect eyesight, why don't have it all the time?"

"Because my body can't handle the constant drain of energy if I do. So I'm only using it when I feel it's necessary."

"Well, that _does_ make sense," Hermione put in. Kakashi sighed, relieved, on the inside. She had bought it. "It's experimental right? Not many people have got eyes like that." Kakashi made a noise of agreement. He had filled up his 'answer' quota for the day.

* * *

The Dark Lord stood by the window, looking out. Long, pale fingers twiddled with the wand in his hands.

"Why is it taking so long?" he asked no one in particular. Lucius Malfoy, the only other person in the room, looked up. He'd been standing there for quite some time now; waiting to obey the Lord's every wish.

"What is taking so long, My Lord?" the head of the Malfoy family asked.

"The old man, he is still alive. Perhaps shinobi are not as reliable as I remembered…"

"Or they are more perceptive than we thought," there was a moment of silence.

"What do you mean?" the Lord's cold voice cut through the silence as he moved across the room and seated himself behind a large desk.

"Perhaps they have figured out that we won't pay them…"

"_What?_" the word came out almost as a hiss. "What do you mean '_we won't pay them'_!?,"

"Well, we have nowhere near the funds to cover such a large expense…" he had started to shake slightly.

"And you were planning to tell me this _when_!?" Voldemort roared.

"I-I thought you knew!" Malfoy tried to look everywhere but on the man he served. Voldemort groaned.

"This is bad, bad, bad, bad, _bad_," he said, emphasising each 'bad' by slamming his forehead onto the desk. This was so far from the Dark Lord's normal cold, calculating demeanour that Malfoy for a second thought that this was an impostor. He quickly abandoned the idea. No one could have defeated the Dark Lord and then _not_ brag about it. They sure wouldn't take his place and _pretend_ to be him. "We can only hope that they only sent one," he murmured. "And that they haven't figured out how to get past the gap yet… please say that they won't send more" Malfoy was sure now that, had Voldemort had hair – he would have pulled it all out.

"Is this going to stop the plans, My Lord?" Malfoy wondered.

"I don't know, Lucius. I don't know." That was when it hit the Death Eater that Voldemort was as human as any of them.

* * *

Harry sat in a puffy armchair next to the fire in Gryffindor's common room.

"I'll think about it," he told Hermione. She had just told him that they (or at least she…) wanted him, Harry, to teach them Defence Against the Dark Arts. Like in a club or something t, so that they could actually _learn_ anything this year. Apparently she had asked around and it seemed like there were others interested as well. Harry sighed. At least he had managed to get through the day without getting more detention from Umbridge.

There was a puffing sound and a cloud of white smoke appeared in front of the fireplace. Harry, Ron and Hermione coughed and tried to wave away the smoke. It cleared away eventually and saw that there was someone sitting on the mat where the 'puff' had emitted from.

"Kakashi!?" Ron yelled. The white-haired boy put up a finger in front of his mouth, signalling for Ron to be silent.

"Peeves can't get in here, right?" he whispered.

"No he can't…" Harry stated with a dumb look on his face.

"Good," Kakashi said with a relieved sigh and turned to the fire, the trio now noticed that he was sopping wet.

"Err… Kakashi, I don't think you should be in here…" Harry tried. Kakashi just shrugged.

"H-h-how did you _do_ that!?" Hermione burst out when she'd finally managed to get hold of herself.

"Do what?" Kakashi wondered, his back still turned to them.

"Apparation! Inside the castle! That's supposed to be impossible!" Though she did wonder where that smoke had come from…

"You sure?" Kakashi asked flatly. "It seemed to work fine to me," he had decided to play along, and pretend that he'd used magic. Ron interrupted Hermione when he noticed that a very… _pink_ colour started to cover Kakashi's hair out from the roots.

"Kakashi…" he said reluctantly. The younger boy turned halfway around and looked at him. "Your hair is kinda'… pink." The look in Kakashi's eye chilled Ron to the bones. He was _so_ glad he wasn't Peeves right now…

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading!

It would be nice if you'd let me know what you think... ;P


	12. Chapter 12

A/N: Yet another chapter!

I felt so bad for writing three chapters on my new fic that I decided to hurry up with this one as well ;)

Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! 18 for the last chapter - That's a new record!!

This chapter now, is mostly about hair.

* * *

The change had been subtle. Kakashi had noticed other things more clearly as October hustled in. Things like the changing colour of the leaves that were starting to fall of the trees in the forbidden forest and the more chilling weather.

The first thing he noted was that the sleeves of the (second) set of robes Dumbledore-sama had provided him with did no longer cover his hands. He had picked up training again and spent a lot of time in the forbidden forest, he was afraid that he'd lose his touch after so long in the castle.

The second thing was that his ANBU-issue pants stopped further above the edge of his sandals. And that a gap ha started to show between the lower edge of the shirt and the waistband of those now-to-short trousers.

The third was that he could now look Hermione straight in the eye. He was still shorter than most boys his age, but at least he didn't look _quite_ so small anymore. His constant training and well-developed, wiry muscles did nothing to prevent the sudden clumsiness though.

And his hair was still pink.

In response to the fact that he suddenly seemed to be unable to keep his too long limbs under control he intensified his training.

* * *

"Ron, have you seen Kakashi?" Hermione asked as she came puffing up the stairs to the Gryffindor tower, she had looked all over and he was nowhere to be found. In her hands she held a bottle of what she was convinced would 'cure' Kakashi's current hair 'condition'.

"No I haven't," Ron grumbled and stared angrily at the Fat lady's portrait. He had forgotten the password and she wouldn't let him in. It was Saturday morning, and he still had his pyjamas on, he had been to lazy to change before breakfast.

"Oh," Hermione said, a little disappointed. She was eager to try out her latest 'hair product'. The last one had done nothing to help the colour but had made Kakashi's hair more 'spiffy', as Ginny put it, and as shiny as it was probably ever going to get. All the Gryffindor girls now used it as shampoo. So far, there had been no side effects. "They have found Peeves, by the way," she added with a sudden smile. Ron perked up.

"Really?" he asked. "Where!?" The poltergeist had first been terrorising the castle (not to mention Kakashi) mercilessly before abruptly disappearing.

"Come on!" Hermione grabbed Ron's wrist and they hurried down the hallway, and back down the stairs. There was a small crowd gathered in the fourth-floor corridor when they arrived. Directly beside a twelve-foot statue of Rowena Ravenclaw stood Dumbledore.

"Come down here, _now_, or we'll get the Baron to get up here," Dumbledore said, he had hint of annoyance in his voice that was the only thing revealing that he'd been standing there for a _long_ time. His neck was starting to hurt.

"Hah!" Peeves exclaimed. "I'm not going down there for something as _petty_ as that!" The Bloody Baron, _petty_? Ron wondered what the _hell_ had been able too freak Peeves out like that.

"What!?" A cold voice was heard and most turned around to see the ghost covered in silver-blood. "What did you just say, Peeves?" he asked and floated a bit higher into the air, so that he didn't have bend his neck like Dumbledore.

"Y-you heard me!" the now desperate poltergeist yelled. "You are _way_ less scary than Mister Hatake!" Mister Hatake? _Mister?_ Dumbledore glanced at McGonagall who inclined her head a bit to the right and they both left down the corridor, leaving the Bloody Baron to handle the poltergeist. Ron and Hermione followed, as sneaky as they could. They saw the teacher and Headmaster disappear behind a corner and carefully glanced around it.

Then, both of the older, seemingly solemn Hogwarts inhabitants exploded into laughter. Ron and Hermione glanced at each other. Now _that_ was freaky.

"You don't have to hide, you know," Dumbledore said, tears coming out the edges of his eyes. The two Gryffindors stepped out next to an armour that emitted a hollow chuckling. "I'm sorry," Dumbledore laughed, "But whatever Kakashi did to Peeves, that damn little ghost deserved it," then he started laugh even harder. Beside him, McGonagall was wheezing and trying to catch her breath. Hermione had never thought Dumbledore to be that… _sadistic_.

"Anyway," McGonagall regained some of her dignity. "If you see Kakashi, could you tell him to get up to the Headmasters office? We need go to London and get the boy some clothing; the way he's been growing lately. You are free to come if you like." At that, she straightened her back further and went on her way down the hall. It had been nothing wrong with the picture if it not were for the random fits of giggles that rocked her body now and then.

"Well, I guess I'll see you around, then," Dumbledore said and disappeared. Hermione and Ron gaped. It was supposed to be _impossible_ to apparate within the castle, and now they had seen _both_ Kakashi and Dumbledore do it!

* * *

_Damn_, his mask had ripped. Or, had been shredded to pieces. And Kakashi had been training hard for the last hours; he didn't even have the chakra to use a simple translocational or even a body-flicker jutsu. Just great. It hadn't even been _during_ training that the mask had broken.

He couldn't blame the little creepy, black, winged foal for it either. It had been an accident.

Kakashi had seen the strange, skeletal horses on several occasions in the forest, but he had let them be and they had let him be. Until today. He had accidentally cut himself on a kunai and suddenly many of them came trotting between the trees. They had seen him, and stayed a short bit away. It seemed like they were carnivores (their reaction to the smell of blood along with sharp teeth pretty much confirmed his suspicions), but refrained from attacking humans.

A brave, gangly foal had been the first to approach him. It had sniffed his hand before licking the blood off. It hadn't bit. He had petted the foal for a few minutes (while it stared in something similar to awe at his _pink _hair) before they somehow got involved in a strange game of tag. Most of the winged horses had left the clearing by now; only a single, watchful mother looked on from afar. After a while Kakashi, still tired from training, sat down and watched the foal's antics and wild jumps. The laugh that erupted from his throat had shocked him. It had been a genuine laugh, completely natural. He had frozen as soon as he figured out where the odd sound had been coming from.

The foal, suddenly concerned, had tripped up to him on small hooves and licked his face in a comforting way, much like his ninken would have done. Unfortunately, it had gotten a hold of his mask in the process and the black fabric was shredded by razor-sharp teeth. Kakashi hadn't been able to be even annoyed with the little horse and stayed in the clearing until the wind picked up and the mare motioned for the little filly to come along. With a mournful glance at Kakashi the black creature followed her mother deeper into the forest.

Now, Kakashi had to deal with the problem of a nonexistent mask and prying eyes as he would have to make his way up to his room in the castle, where he kept spare masks. Thank Kami he always brought those along on missions.

He pulled up the hood of his heavy ANBU-cloak and pulled it further down to obscure his face. He kept the lower part of the hood together with a gloved hand.

He had just stepped into the castle when a small, blonde Gryffindor boy (probably a first-year) started wailing about Death-Eaters. Kakashi sighed as teachers came welling out of the great hall. No doubt attracted by the shouts coming from the boy. Kakashi pulled the hood back a bit; showing his… _pink_ hair and hitai-ate but still covering his lower face.

"Oh, it's you," was the boy's only reaction. He proceeded by skipping away with his friends. Kakashi rolled his eyes and went up the staircase that, on Saturday's, led to the seventh floor.

When he took the last step of the stair he was almost glomped by Hermione and Ron who came running at full speed. Harry was nowhere to be seen.

"You are to get to Dumbledore's office, NOW!" Ron yelled. Kakashi's eye widened a bit.

"Calm down," Hermione said and smacked Ron over the head, which looked quite funny since she was _a lot_ shorter than the Weasley boy. "It's not such a hurry. Besides," she held up a glass bottle which contained a shimmering, green liquid. "I think this will actually help against your hair colour!" she smiled brightly and Kakashi shuddered inside. He strongly suspected that she was using him as a guineapig pig for strange hair products.

"Thanks," he said and took the bottle with his free hand. His voice was somewhat muffled by the cloak. "Where's Harry?" he asked.

"In bed," Ron grimaced. "He's just taken that medicine against cold and is resting for today." Kakashi nodded in understanding and walked past the two towards his room. They spun around immediately and followed him. Outside his door, he stopped.

"You know, I'd _really_ like to take a shower and get changed, if you don't mind," he said.

"WHAT!?" Ron yelled, as if Kakashi was deaf because Ron hadn't been able to hear his words. Hermione smacked him again and dragged him away down the corridor.

"Don't forget! Dumbledore's office, we'll meet you there!" she yelled. What was up with all the yelling today? Kakashi wondered.

* * *

Hermione, Ron and Professor McGonagall waited patiently for Kakashi to show up in Dumbledore's office so they could leave for Diagon Alley by floo powder. The door was pushed up, in an almost painful, slow way. Kakashi stepped into the room, his too-small set of robes showed of bare toes through his sandals.

"Sorry I'm late…" he muttered, "My hair-" he was interrupted by Ron's wailing laughter. It sure was a sight to behold; Kakashi's hair stood on an end in its normal fashion but there ended everything _normal_ about it. It was constantly _changing_ colour between so green that it hurt their eyes and its previous, bubble-gum pink. Ron thought that it kind of looked like the Christmas decorations those insane muggles insisted on pulling out every year that blinked in different colours.

"Anyone got a _hat_?" Kakashi growled. Ron tossed him his own black, pointy one. He had intended on using it himself – it was cold out, but it would just be mean to force Kakashi to go outside like that. Kakashi pulled the hat on; it was a bit too big, even though his headband was underneath it as well.

McGonagall clicked her tongue.

"Ready to go?" she asked and held out an open bag of floo powder to Kakashi. He knew what to do – he had read about it, but was reluctant to take any powder. This was not really a way of travelling he had been especially eager to try. After a second's hesitation he took a handful of the powder.

"Where to?" he sighed.

"The Leaky Cauldron," McGonagall said and he threw the powder into the fire, stepped in between the now emerald flames and repeated her words.

The spinning made him want to retch. He was moving in high speed and sometimes he caught glimpses of living rooms and shop-interiors. He landed heavily onto his feet and stumbled out of the fireplace. Soon three other figures followed him, though two of them coughing badly from the dust that had risen when they all landed. Ron looked as sick as Kakashi felt.

The barman eyed them strangely. This place made Kakashi's skin crawl.

"All right then," McGonagall said, "We'll start out at Madam Malkin's and then go on to buy some decent shoes," Kakashi was just about to say that he didn't need shoes when he realized that the ones he wore were _sandals_. He'd freeze his toes when winter came. He sighed quietly.

"First I'll have to exchange my money," he said. He was not even sure how long they would last – He had no idea how much his Land of Fire ryu would be worth in wizarding currency.

Apparently, the Goblins of Gringotts bank did. For his five thousand ryu (which was two thirds of the emergency funds all Konoha shinobi was provided with for out-of-country missions) he got 65 galleons, 26 sickles and two knuts. According to Ron, he had a small fortune. At least it was enough for clothing and shoes.

"Hm…" the goblin behind the high desk had said as he looked at the ryu note. "It was a long time since I last saw this currency," he muttered to himself, on Ron's inquiring, the small creature confirmed that he did know how to exchange it.

When they turned to make their way back out the impressive gates to the bank Kakashi was stopped by the goblin's voice-

"What is a Konoha ANBU doing this far from home?" Kakashi whipped around and looked the into the creature's eyes. "And with _such_ a revealing hair colour," the goblin chuckled. A few strands of his hair had escaped from underneath the hat and made sharp contrast against the black of his mask and the hat itself. Kakashi made a sound _very_ close to a growl and the goblin disappeared with a silent 'pop'. Kakashi threw a glance around and wished that he could have checked those goblins out with his sharingan. He had sensed a tiny bit of chakra flare when the creature had snapped its fingers and vanished.

"Hey, Kakashi! You coming!?" Ron yelled. Kakashi growled, on the inside this time, and followed the others. He now held a strong suspicion that these goblins might have knowledge about the gap. But he also doubted that it would be possible to get anything out of them. Sneaky little bastards.

The street outside was crowded the way they only are when it is a nice autumn day in a city, during a weekend when the sales putting out the summer items are at full tilt. Kakashi didn't like it. Not one bit. Mixed with the overall presence of all these people were the _smell_ that always lingered around large crowds along with the smell of different foodstuffs being sold by street vendors. One of them sold what looked eerily similar to fried toenails. Those 'snacks' even reeked like dirty socks. The worst part was that people actually _bought_ and _ate_ the stuff.

To Kakashi's surprise though, this 'Alley' held none of the exhaust smell that he had found so overwhelming during his last visit to London.

* * *

Madam Malkin's shop selling 'Robes for all occasions' was, surprisingly, empty when they entered. Kakashi breathed out in relief and Ron fell into the chair that stood against one of the walls as they entered. The last fort-five minutes had consisted of them (McGonagall and Hermione had disappeared at some point) pushing their way through the crowds to their destination. Kakashi had already purchased a pair of boots, really expensive, made in scale-free dragon hide; he hadn't been able to resist them. With those on he would _never_ have to worry about having his feet frozen, or burned, for that matter. He suddenly got a picture in his head of his entire body being engulfed by flames and the only thing left of him for identification was feet, still safely tucked into _really_ nice boots.

He quickly shook the picture from his mind as a short (he was taller than her!), squat, witch came out of the room at the back of the store.

"And what do we have here?" she said happily and walked forward. "Are both of you looking for robes? Taylor-fitted?" Kakashi cleared his throat a little.

"Just me," he said.

"Ah," the little woman seemed way too excited by having a single customer, Kakashi thought. "Hogwarts?"

"Not really,"

"Alright then, let's see your hair so we might be able to find a fitting colour," she said and snatched the hat of his head. _Damn_, she was fast. Her eyes looked like they would pop out of her head at any moment.

"It doesn't usually look like this," Kakashi said flatly. "It's white."

"Oh," the witch exhaled. The next thing he knew Kakashi was handed a small, orange bottle. The label read 'Spell-a-way shampoo' and also stated that the shampoo would remove any kind of 'inconvenient' spells attached to hair, or something like that. "Here you go, dearie," Madam Malkin said and then pushed Kakashi onto a stool. A measure-tape started to work on it's own as Madam Malkin pulled heavy curtains over the windows and ordered Kakashi to undress. She pulled out a grey roll of fabric, the colour two or three shades darker than his hair and just a bit lighter than his eye.

Ron just laughed from his position by the wall as he watched a confused Kakashi being tormented by the enthusiastic, babbling tailor.

Kakashi cleared his throat and interrupted the woman in the middle of her musings about last years 'Triwizard-Tournament' at Hogwarts.

"Don't make it too expensive," he said, "I've been growing a lot lately-" he was interrupted by Madam Malkin.

"Don't worry; I know how to make clothes for growing boys. This particular fabric along with a special way of stitching will make the robes grow as you do. And it is not even expensive! Imagine the wonders of modern research…" Kakashi tuned out the witch's babble and stood patiently as she draped his thin frame in the fabric. He _really_ liked that colour, as far as he could tell, it would make him able to disappear anywhere, at any time. It wouldn't stand out like black during daytime nor glow like white in the night. At dawn and dusk, he'd be like a ghost. If his hair would ever return to normal, that was.

"…All too skinny dearie, just look at you," Kakashi couldn't hide his twitch. He did _not_ like being called that.

"What did you say?" he asked the woman.

"You really have to eat more, you're only skin and bones!" she exclaimed. Kakashi rolled his eyes. _That_ comment was nothing new. His sensei had nagged him about it for as long as he could remember,

* * *

Twenty minutes later the curtains had been pulled away since Kakashi no longer stood half-naked for the world to see. He had one of the two new, grey, set of robes on and madam Malkin was finishing up the last details as McGonagall entered the shop, closely followed by Hermione. They both looked exhausted and dishevelled.

Soon they were on their way back to the Leaky Cauldron, Kakashi now wearing the too-small black robes again. They were all tired and annoyed when they returned to Hogwarts. Kakashi spent the rest of the day reading by the window in his room and decided to go visit the skeletal horses again next morning.

He washed his hair with the new shampoo before going to bed.

When he woke the next morning, he felt oddly cold around his head and looked at his reflection in the small mirror someone (probably Dobby) had placed in his room. His breath hitched in his throat.

Hatake Kakashi; had gone bald.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading! 


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: New chapter!!!

This is a bit short, sorry about that, hopefully quality will make up for it…

Any way, THANK YOU so much for all the reviews!!

Here comes the conclusion of poor Kakashi's hair troubles -

* * *

Kakashi stroke a hand over his now bare scalp. What had he ever done to deserve this? Well at least it had removed the green-slash-pink, he mused grimly. 

Then, it hit him, and he felt like banging his head into the closest, hard surface. A _henge_. He could have used a simple _henge_ the whole time!

And he was supposed to be the Hatake genius. The youngest one to reach the rank of first genin, then chuunin and futher jouning. And he didn't even remember that he could do a henge. Being in this stupid castle was getting to his head. He missed Konoha. He missed it so much it almost hurt, and there was still no lead on how to get back.

He sighed and turned away from the mirror when a sudden flare of chakra and a low yelp was heard from the wall by the window. It was Dobby.

"W-w-wh-what has happened to your _hair_ mister Kakashi?" the small elf stuttered. Kakashi just glared.

"It was not like I meant to do it", he snarled. For some reason, that made the bat-eared creature relax a bit.

"Well then you can let Dobby fix it, right mister Kakashi?" Dobby squealed. Kakashi crossed his arms and a single, silver-coloured eyebrow disappeared behind his hitai-ate. _Fix it?_

Dobby smiled broadly and snapped his long fingers. There it was again, that short flare of chakra. It came from the house-elf. Kakashi raised a hand slowly to his head and his visible eye widened when he felt his hair. _It was back_. He glanced over his shoulder into the mirror. It looked exactly the same as before Peeves had finally managed to hit him with one of his annoying pranks.

He looked back at Dobby and tore his hitai-ate off. He stared at the small creature with the sharingan.

"Do that again," he commanded. That little creature had just restored his hair. Using _chakra_. With a simple _snap_ of his fingers! If there was _any_ way for Kakashi to copy that, he would do it. Perhaps not use it to regrow hair, but it could be _very_ useful to be able to do something similar to magic, but using chakra and without a stick.

"B-but Dobby can't put your hair back again, it's already back!" Dobby protested, sounding a bit distressed. Kakashi rolled his eyes.

"Then do something else, anything!" he urged. Dobby scrunched his face together, no doubt thinking hard. Then he looked up again and snapped his fingers. Thanks to the sharingan, Kakashi could see what happened next almost in slow motion. First the same blur that he now associated with magic began to form on top of the table, and then there was a distinct flash of chakra in the middle of it all and a soft 'pop' was heard. On the table there was now a tray with breakfast on it. The young ANBU-captain was amazed. It was as if magic first molded and directed what was supposed to happen, and then chakra was the force used to pull it through.

Kakashi suspected that, if he tried, he would summon some random thing from a random place through the chakra, but without magic he would be unable to direct _what_ he would take and _where_ that something would come from. Perhaps, if he practiced, it could still be put to use.

He tied his hitai-ate back on and turned to dobby. It was amazing, how such a small, gentle and oppressed kind of creature could hold so much power.

Kakashi focused, and released his chakra the same was Dobby had, atop the table. It was hard, to actually release it that far from the body without reaching it out. That was something he had to keep practicing on, he decided.

He snapped his fingers, and focused on something small, like a spoon. Hopefully, if he concentrated hard enough, he would be able to direct the 'spell' without the magic. It didn't work though. Both Kakashi and Dobby's eyes widened when Professor Flitwick appeared on top of the table. But it was not only him. Along with the short wizard came his desk, and the chair he was currently sitting on. There was a loud crash when the table collapsed beneath the weight and everything fell into a pile of rubble.

Professor Flitwick sat up slowly. On top of his head, instead of the usual hat, he now had an upside-down can of marmalade tilted fashionably to the left. His look was one of utter confusion. Kakashi didn't know what to say to the man, so he turned to the house-elf instead.

"Thank you, Dobby-san, for showing me," he said with a minimal bow in the creature's direction. Dobby's eyes rolled back in his head and he fell on his back with a small 'thud'.

* * *

Harry dreamed. It was the usual one, the same he had experienced time after time during the last few months. 

He dreamed of long corridors and locked doors.

But this time, something had changed. The atmosphere was different. He kept seeing flashes of white hair in the corner of his eye, but every time he turned, there was no one there.

He reached out his hand for the locked doorknob.

A single leaf fell on his hand. For some reason, he couldn't shake it of. He didn't want to. But still, a feeling of dread was rising up inside of him. His scar began to tingle. It was more of an ache than the usual, searing pain he had started to associate with Voldemort being angry.

A loud pecking woke him up. He looked towards the window and saw Hedwig perched outside with an annoyed look and ruffled feathers. He slowly got up and opened the window. He was shivering slightly from the dream, his scar still hurt and he just wanted to hide, curl up somewhere and wait out the storm.

Now, the snow-white owl looked worried.

* * *

The Sandaime Hokage of Konoha felt like pulling his hair. It had been more than a month now, and there was still no word from Kakashi. 

He felt guilty. He should not have let Minato's last student out on a mission like that alone. He should not have let _anyone_ out on a mission like that alone, but the fact that it was his successor's sole surviving student made it even worse. And he could not even send out more ANBU to look for him. He couldn't have done it even if he'd had enough shinobi to spare.

Sarutobi wished that Jiraya would return soon. The village did not have the manpower to search for the sannin who was the only one remaining who had been there when the not-yet-yondaime had passed through the gap. Hopefully the Sandaime's student would be able to reveal information about it that had yet to be found out by the current Hokage.

Soon he would be forced to declare the young Hatake-prodigy as missing in action.

A rustle of feathers too loud to belong to a messenger-hawk made him look up. Straight into the eyes of the biggest owl he had ever seen. His eyes widened as the owl put a leg out and an ANBU burst in through the open window.

"I am so sorry, Sandaime-sama but-" Sarutobi silenced him with a gesture of his hand. He had picked a tightly rolled-up envelop from the owl's leg. With a flutter of wings and a low hoot the owl settled down on the back of one of the vacant chairs in the office.

"Leave me," the Hokage said as he read the text on the outside of the envelop. The ANBU-operative immediately obeyed.

The address stated on the envelop was written in green ink. It read; 'Sarutobi Sandaime Hokage of Konoha, Hokage tower; fourth floor; Hokage office.' The sender was identified as one 'Albus Dumbledore'.

The Hokage felt as if the blood had frozen in his veins. Why would the _target_ Kakashi was sent out to _assassinate_ writing _here_? He slowly opened the letter.

'_Sandaime Hokage of Konoha_' the first line read.

_If You have received this, then at least one of our experiments has proved successful. If You indeed are reading this, then please send back a reply the same way this one arrived._

_I cannot go too much further into the subject at the moment, but if You do reply I will submit a deeper explanation of the current situation, as well as an enclosed letter from young Mr Hatake himself._

They had taken Kakashi prisoner? Why would they let an _assassin_ write back to his village? Sarutobi felt drained.

_I can inform you that Your young… employee is safe and unharmed (though I must admit that I do _not_ approve of his young age), he is currently living in the castle and are attending class at a semi-regular basis. To learn as much of this world to bring back with him, no doubt._

_Further I can inform you that there has been a breach of contract on the side of your client, which is the sole reason why Mr Hatake has not preformed his mission successfully by now._

_He is welcome to stay here for as long as it is required._

_I hope that this will reach You and that You will be able to help us in further investigation of this 'gap', so that Mr Hatake can return home safely._

_Sincerely_

_Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore;_

_Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

The Sandaime could do nothing but stare at the letter in his hand.

* * *

Harry found Dobby in the Gryffindor common room, polishing the same spot on the table over, over and over again. That exact spot shone like a mirror while the rest of the table held the usual, quite dull, tint to it. That was why Harry figured that the house-elf had been standing there for quite a while. Harry watched the creature in concern as he waited for Ron and Hermione to get down; today was the day of the Hogsmeade trip, and Harry was a bit exited, as well as nervous. He wondered exactly _how_ many people Hermione had invited to their little 'gathering'. Ron came skipping down the stairs in a way that made Harry wonder if his friend had been kidnapped and this was an impostor; Ron was _never_ this happy in the morning. He heard Dobby mumble something and leaned in closer. 

"_Howdid'e doit howdid he doit howhow how,_" How did who do what? Harry thought and leaned forward as Ron stepped up with a look on his face that, had they not both been worried for Dobby, would have made him laugh.

"How did Who do What?" Ron voiced Harry's exact thoughts.

"Mister Kakashi!" Dobby stated and pulled at his ears. "He used house-elf magic, how did he do that Mister Ronald Weasley how did he do that? Wizards are not supposed to do elf-magic Mister Harry Potter!" Dobby exclaimed and looked from one boy to the other.

Harry glanced at Ron who looked back at him. None of them knew much of the special magic house-elves used, but they were quite sure that wizards were not only _supposed_ to _not do_ elf magic. They were completely unable to perform it, even though the elves themselves could do the same things as wizards and use wands.

They would have to ask Hermione. She should know, as much time as she kept putting into S.P.E.W.

* * *

Kakashi was so tired. 

Tired of insolent, ignorant wizard-brats who wielded power greater than they could ever imagine, and did nothing of it.

And they were _so_ good at being discreet. Since a couple of weeks back now, ever since the visit to Hogsmeade village, they had been involved in, and managed, a 'secret' organization right under the nose of 'High Inquisitor' Dolores Umbridge, strictly going against the 'educational decree' forbidding groups of three students or more to come together on a regular basis.

Kakashi had not been involved in what they now called 'DA', but had watched from a distance. How they had all managed to avoid detection was almost a miracle. Apparently Umbridge and her 'servants' had even less talent in observation than the foolish kids.

He would never admit it, but Kakashi felt left out. He now only rarely went to class with the fifth years anymore, even though he could not perform any of the practical magic, when it came to the theory of it he had easily surpassed the highest level of the final exams required for graduation from Hogwarts.

He had seen Hermione a bit more than the others, since she spent quite some time in the library, but every time she saw him she quickly stuffed her books away, either into her worn book bag or back onto the shelves. He couldn't help but get the feeling that she was researching _him_.

Right now he was hiding with the help of a simple genjutsu, looking over one of her shoulders as she pulled down a large tome. He felt a bit of glee as he revelled in the fact that he was now _taller_ than her. Only by a mere centimetre or so, but still. She took the book with her and sat down in a puffy armchair, leaning her elbows either side of the volume on the table. She flipped the book open at a marked page and Kakashi leaned in closer.

_It has long been disputed if these methods are even to be called magic, but more recent research __proves that this is indeed the case. These days this type of magic is regarded as an old, traditional branch of magic that only a very few can master – and those who do must be trained from a very tender age to be able to draw upon those talents._

_This research, as mentioned, is mostly based on the use of more advanced magic not only without using spoken _words_ but even without a _wand_ as a catalyst. This controversial research connects this type of 'traditional' magic that seems to have its base in martial arts with the magic used by goblins, house-elves and other magical creatures. A 'normal' wizard usually does not possess the ability to perform this type of magic and neither is it known that many of these Japanese 'wizards' are able to master the art of using a wand. Of those who have proven able to accomplish both magical 'methods' the most powerful and the most worthy of mention is the clan-head Uchiha Madara._

There was a picture in the book, a quite poorly done one at that. But the Uchiha's sharingan eyes stood out clearly and were portrayed with frightening accuracy. The picture was so still it could almost have been a regular 'muggle' drawing, had it not been for the slow spinning of the tomoes in Uchiha Madara's eyes.

Hermione slammed the book shut before Kakashi got the opportunity to read any further, she stuffed it into her bag and left the library with a smirk.

Kakashi dropped the genjutsu and bolted after her.

* * *

A/N: Another chapter done! 

Please leave a comment? (I can always _try_ to beg, can't I?)

XD


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Another chapter!!

Thanks for all the reviews, story alerts and favs!!

I think these notes are starting to become quite repetative... but still.

Now please, enjoy this brand new chapter:D

* * *

Hermione hurried through the halls. It was the day for Ron's very first Quidditch game. Against Slytherin. She knew that his nerves were taking it hard and hoped that everything would turn out well. She had already lost the beginning of the game to research, but figured it was worth it. The book that now weighed down her bag considerably was the first one even mentioning some 'other' type of magic.

At first, when she had 'seen' him suddenly disappear and then be further away down the hall she had started to wonder. When she'd been told of his strange eye and seen a picture of it (unfortunately, Ron's drawing skills left much to be hoped for) and _seen_ him apparate within the castle, she had begun to feel uneasy. It was something that wasn't what it was supposed to be with the masked boy. Then, Dobby's apparent shock and saying that Kakashi could use 'elf-magic' had made her determined. She _was_ going to find out just _exactly_ what was going on. It had taken longer than expected though, but _finally_ she had stumbled across a clue. That book even contained a picture of eyes looking the same as Kakashi's. She doubted that they were nothing more than a way to regain lost sight. Perhaps it was a sign showing that the bearer could use _both_ types of magic. Though why Kakashi only had one, if that was the case, was a mystery.

Someone grabbed her arm, hard, and made her stop.

* * *

Kakashi's mind was racing; he had no idea what to do. Perhaps he could use the sharingan and make her forget? No, Dumbledore would _not_ look kindly upon him messing with the minds of his students. He probably wouldn't look kindly upon him messing with _anyone_ in this school's minds. Besides Umbridge, but she was an exception. Everyone hated her. Should he scare her so that she wouldn't tell the truth? No, Dumbledore would most likely be _very_ angry if he threatened a student, even if there would be no truth behind the threats. But knowing himself, there would _definitely_ be truth behind those threats. Should he just leave her be? 

She was clearly on to something, even if that book was not entirely accurate. Whatever it might say, chakra was _not_ magic. It was the house-elves that had figured out a way to use their chakra along with magic in a way that had Kakashi wondering why the hell they hadn't just beaten down all those oppressive wizards and taken over for themselves.

And Uchiha Madara had been a _wizard_? Kakashi wondered if he had been past the gap before or after his violent… departure. At least one thing was certain. Kakashi would be watching the Uchihas closely in the future. If he ever got back. Magic did not always run in families, he knew, sometimes it skipped a generation or somehow it showed up in 'muggle' families. But almost always, people with magic had children with magic.

When he grabbed her arm Hermione stopped and turned around.

"Kakashi?" she asked with her brows creased. She sounded annoyed. "The game's already started; I don't want to miss the whole thing!" Game? What game? Oh, right, the quidditch game. Kakashi had completely forgotten about it, _that_ had to be the reason why the castle was so empty. He still didn't know what to do. He cursed his own mind. Genius, yeah _right_.

* * *

Hermione tried to just look annoyed, but on the inside, she was terrified. Did he know that she was on to something and was going to make sure she kept quiet? She already knew that he could make people _forget_ with that eye of his. Fortunately, it was still hidden beneath that metal-plated headband. She was quite certain by now that Kakashi would have no hesitation if it came to hurting someone. It was not out of malevolence or sadism, she knew. The boy just seemed to be… detached from feelings. He was probably bottling everything up inside, considering that panic-attack he'd suffered some weeks ago. 

She couldn't understand how he managed to keep his eyelid half-dropped like that all the time. She doubted that she'd ever seen it completely open. He stared at her for a moment longer before he let go of her arm. She fought against her wish to rub it; his grip had been so hard it had cut of the blood flow to her lower arm and hand.

"I'm sorry, Hermione-san," he said. It didn't really sound as if he meant the 'sorry' part, but at least he was polite. There was a puff of smoke and the grey-clad, younger teenager disappeared. She breathed out and continued out onto the grounds. She couldn't wait until the game was over and she could reveal her findings to her two best friends.

* * *

Dumbledore was in a meeting, Kakashi noted as he reappeared in the Headmasters office with his grey robes billowing around him. Robes might be impractical, but he could not deny the certain amount of coolness that came along with them. If you didn't look something like Neville or Ron at least, they both looked quite… awkward. 

The small man twirling a very purple bowler's hat between his hands looked up in alarm as Kakashi poofed into existence. Kakashi noted his pinstriped robes and decided that here was someone else that did _not_ look good in robes. Behind his chair stood an impressive black man – a bodyguard, Kakashi assumed.

Dumbledore shot Kakashi a look and the ANBU-captain gave a small bow.

"I apologise, Dumbledore-sama. Do you have any knowledge of for how long this meeting will continue, or should I just wait outside the door?" The bodyguard had pulled out his wand and watched Kakashi warily. _Damn_. Kakashi had not really expected anyone else to be in Dumbledore's office at this time, not with a quidditch game still going on outside, and had been too riled up from discovering that Hermione was on to something to actually _think_. He had completely forgotten that wizards were unable to use their 'apparation' inside the castle.

"No need, Mr Hatake, no need. We were just wrapping up here anyway, weren't we, minister?" The small man – the minister, turned back to Dumbledore, Kakashi had not expected him to be so good at hiding his feelings but he practically smelled of alarm and something else, fear? Perhaps. It didn't smell the same as when someone was close to death, but something similar. Though still, nothing but annoyance and a bit of unease showed on his face.

"Who is he?" the minister, Fudge, Kakashi recalled his name, said.

"Cornelius Fudge, this is Hatake Kakashi. Mr Hatake – Minister Cornelius Fudge," Dumbledore introduced.

"You know what I mean," the minister sneered, he seemed to have regained some confidence as he had glanced at his bodyguard, who didn't seem to be too fazed.

"Of course, Mr Hatake is from a small Japanese village and has come here to further his education, as you can see, he has some… skills that are quite unknown to us." Apparently Dumbledore had changed the background story some. It didn't matter too much, Kakashi figured, since the chance that the minister would talk to those who knew the 'other' back story better and come onto the subject of him. But still, Kakashi felt a bit annoyed. To have several stories to uphold would be even harder than to keep only the first one floating. And, if Hermione wasn't a complete moron – which he knew she wasn't, that first version might sink soon.

"And he has come here without reporting to the ministry or without an older delegate from his village?" The minister frowned.

"Mr Hatake came alone, as you can see, and I can assure you that he is quite capable of taking care of himself. Another delegate might come here later on but so far nothing is determined. And as of the matter of papers and ministry report, it seems as if Mr Shacklebolt has something to add in the matter," Dumbledore nodded towards the bodyguard and the Minister turned slightly, still keeping an eye at Kakashi.

"Minister Fudge," Shacklebolt said in a voice that made Kakashi think of Ibiki, and Ibiki was someone Kakashi would _never_ have thought appropriate for protecting someone. The older, special-jounin would have his charges dying from fear or going into complete apathy within a week or so. Even without trying. "Mr Hatake here _has_ reported upon his arrival in England. I am sure that no one thought it necessary to bring such a small matter to the Minister of Magic himself." Apparently Fudge had not considered this before and Kakashi breathed out.

"Very well," Fudge said. "Perhaps I should send a delegate of my own to his village then? I am sure that we could come to some sort of agreement beneficial for both sides," Fudge said.

Kakashi cleared his throat. He _hated_ to be talked about as if he weren't there. It was one thing to do it if it was required for a mission and a complete difference to be ignored like this. He _was_ the Hatake genius after all.

"I am sorry, Dumbledore-sama, Minister, but this might be a matter of some urgency," he said. If they were done, the minister could just leave, couldn't he? The minister turned to Kakashi.

"How old are you?" he asked. "And why are you wearing that ridiculous mask and headband?" Kakashi nearly sighed; he was _not _here to be insulted.

"I am fourteen years old. The mask is… tradition and so is the 'headband', as a minister I suggest that you should be a bit more considerate of foreign cultures. Even if I am only a child here to be educated, it is not a good idea to call visiting dignitaries of any kind _ridiculous_." Fudge gaped. The expression reminded Kakashi very much of a dead fish and earned a barely audible snicker from Dumbledore and Shacklebolt. The Minister looked around before he rose from his chair, followed by Dumbledore.

"I suppose it is time for me to leave, Professor Dumbledore, Mr Hatake," Fudge gave them a nod and walked out of the office. His bodyguard lingered for a moment longer and exchanged a look with Dumbledore before he left as well.

"So, Kakashi-kun, what was this 'matter of urgency' you were speaking about?" The headmaster asked in Japanese.

"Hermione-san is starting to figure things out." It felt good to speak his own language again, even though it felt kind of weird.

"Ah, of course she is. I would almost be disappointed in her if he hadn't started to suspect something by now," Dumbledore said with a glint in his eye. Kakashi's mouth fell open. He was _very_ thankful that his mask at least hid some of the stupid expression. _That_ was Dumbledore's reaction? "What did you think? That I would do something about it?" The old wizard couldn't hide the amusement in his voice. Dumbledore knew, from having talked to the boy – the ANBU captain, that shinobi were strict when it came to secrecy, but to try to keep _everything_ a total secret might be a bit optimistic. He also knew that Kakashi was a _genius_, and thought that the boy should have figured this out by now. But perhaps he had been too focused on keeping his 'identity' secret that his mind got somewhat clouded.

"I…" Kakashi didn't know what to say.

"Kakashi, the Hidden Village of Konoha is not a secret, nor unknown where you come from, neither is the existence of ninja. I know that it could be beneficial to keep these things quiet, but you cannot expect me to see the reason in doing this. Miss Granger, and to bring Weasley and Potter into this as well, are people who would just go about and proclaim loudly about these things. I do not ask you to tell them everything, but perhaps you could explain a few things, as chakra, for example. At least Miss Granger knows something, as you said, and I do not think that it will be easy to quell her curiosity. Besides, I am quite certain that it would not be particularly beneficial to you if you let them believe in lies, it may seem so now, but it might en up differently." Kakashi just looked at him. "If I have still not convinced you, I can inform you that some, at lest, of our research has proved successful." Dumbledore handed a letter to Kakashi who took it without a word.

'_Albus Dumbledore_

_I must confess that I was relieved to receive Your letter. We have all wondered about what could have happened during this mission. I would be grateful to receive a further explanation of the current situation as well as some more determined proof that our man is alive and well._

_I hope that you have some means of protecting this correspondence, some information carried in the future, if what you have written so far proves correct, might be classified and not to be seen by the wrong eyes._

_Sincerely_

_Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure_

_Sarutobi_

_P.s. I have enclosed a message for Wolf in here; I trust that you will show it to him_.'

The rest of the letter was coded, Kakashi barely noticed as he continued reading.

_'ANBU Wolf_

_I have been informed that __there has been a breach of contract. As for now this mission is turned into reconnaissance and gathering of basic information. If the opportunity presents itself, take out the one responsible. Do not seek him out. _

_There is no need to go undercover, Konoha will most likely, if it proves beneficial and if the information received is correct, want some sort of treaty and an alliance with these wizards in the future. I suppose that you are aware that some amount of secrecy is still to be held._

_We keep on researching more about the gap; hopefully you will be able to return soon. It is possible that Jiraya might know something, but we will not know if that is the case until we can actually _find_ him._

_You are missed.'_

Kakashi looked at the letter in his hand. That last part had been completely against the rules and unprofessional, but the fourteen-year old could not help but give into the bubbling feeling inside of him. The 'giving in' resulted in a nearly-invisible smile.

Not only was there a possibility that he might be able to go home soon, but he also had clear orders. He would never have admitted it, but he had wondered, from time to time, perhaps not in entirely rational moments, if they even remembered him back in Konoha. He had even wondered if Gai had found some other sorry jounin to harass.

Blue eyes glinted behind half-moon shaped glasses as Dumbledore smiled at him.

"I think we have a letter to write, hm?" he said.

* * *

Hermione had missed the whole game. At first, she wasn't too disappointed, she _had_ found out something about the mystery that was Hatake Kakashi, after all. _And_ she had been told, it was more of a small comment, but still, by Professor Vector that Hagrid had returned. 

Apparently, the entire game had ended up a fiasco. Gryffindor had won because Harry had managed to catch the snitch, but that was where the good things came to an end.

Harry, George and Fred had all been suspended from playing quidditch _ever_ again. From starting a muggle-fight with Malfoy, it seemed. The reason behind the fight was that the Slytherin seeker had insulted the Weasley family and Harry's mom. And that the Slytherins had been taunting Ron mercilessly and singing some thing about Weasley being their King for not protecting a single ring, or something like that.

And Ron was still missing from the common room. They had been out looking for him without success and now the few members left of the Gryffindor team (minus Ron) Harry, Hermione, Fred, George and Ginny were sitting together, just waiting for him to come back.

* * *

Kakashi still didn't know what to tell them. He doubted that Harry and Ron had been left unaware for long, but he had decided on one thing. He wanted to join the DA. Reconnaissance it was, and it would be _very_ good to at least know _some_ ways to fend off spells. Especially if he were to encounter Voldemort, something Ron had said, would definitely occur if he stayed around Harry. And he _wanted_ to punish the bastard who had broken the contract and, sort of, made him forced to stay here. And if he just so _happened_ to stay around Harry, he wouldn't be seeking Voldemort out, would he? 

Right now, he was walking around aimlessly; he had been looking for them, but had failed to find them. He figured that they had probably been in the common room the whole time, and by now it was almost too late for students to be wandering around outside their 'houses'. In ten minutes or so teachers would start patrolling the corridors

It was snowing outside; he noticed when he stepped out the huge double-doors. He had only seen snow a very few times in his life. The last time had been during a mission with Sensei and Rin. They had been delivering supplies to a mountain village, and those tops were always covered in snow. They had all been trapped 'behind' an avalanche that had clogged the only pass into the small valley in which the village was located and had been stuck there for a month.

It hadn't been too bad. Minato-sensei had forced him to ride a sledge down the snow-clad hillsides. Kakashi had done nothing like it before and had almost refused to do something so childish at the time. Secretly, he had enjoyed every second.

The one time he'd seen snow before that was when he was three and the Third great Shinobi War was in full action. He remembered the snow because he had been able to see the trails of blood returning ninjas left behind.

He reached out a bare, calloused hand and watched the flakes slowly melt on his palm. He heard, and recognised, the footsteps before his eye could distinguish the figure coming through the snowfall.

Ron was almost blue and shivering. He was still wearing his quidditch outfit and Kakashi wondered if he had been out there all day. The older boy barely noticed Kakashi as he walked up the steps.

"You okay?" Kakashi asked quietly, his voice as emotionless as it usually was. Ron looked startled and turned to Kakashi.

"Yeah, sure. Whatever," the redhead said in a monotone voice and walked up the final step and into the castle. Kakashi followed him.

They walked together up the stairs towards the seventh floor when Ron spoke again.

"It was all my fault, you know," he said and sounded completely devastated. Kakashi might have tried to, but he couldn't manage to care that much.

"What was?" he asked anyway as he watched a painting of three old ladies who were currently huddled together and whispering. Sometimes one of them looked up and around, as if to assure herself that no one was listening in. Kakashi couldn't understand what was so secret about knitting patterns and tea meetings.

"What do you mean 'what was'?" Ron asked. "I am a completely useless watcher and the whole game turned into a big fiasco!"

"I haven't seen you play nor did I see today's game, so I wouldn't know," Kakashi offered. "But didn't you win?"

"Yeah, but that was all Harry's doing," the older teenager said gloomily. Kakashi almost sighed. He felt _way_ too old for this.

Eventually they reached the Gryffindor common room and Kakashi followed Ron inside. Normally, another student (if Kakashi could be called that) would not have been allowed into the Gryffindor tower, but for some reason, the Fat Lady guarding the entrance had seemed to take a liking for him.

Only Harry and Hermione were still there when they got into the room. Kakashi stood a bit to the side as he listened to Harry and Hermione assuring Ron that he weren't the worst quidditch-player in the world and that Malfoy was nuts and so on. He rolled his eyes when Harry and Ron stated that this was the worst that had _ever_ happened in their lives. Kakashi was pretty sure that the day Cedric Diggory died and Voldemort returned was worse in both their opinions.

"Anyway, I do have some good news," Hermione said with a small smile.

"Oh _really_?" Harry asked sceptically. Kakashi wondered if she was going to tell them about what she'd found out about him. Probably not, he decided, if she was as smart as Dumbledore obviously considered her to be she wouldn't speak a word about it with him around.

"Hagrid's back." Kakashi watched as the two so far gloomy faces lit up with smiles. If this Hagrid person could make them _this_ happy just by showing up, he had to be even higher in their opinion than the infamous Sirius Black.

"Who's Hagrid?" Kakashi asked. At that, Ron turned towards him and broke down in laughter.

* * *

A/N: Thanks for reading! 

A comment is always appreciated ;P


	15. Chapter 15

Ron finished his explanation of who Hagrid was, Kakashi now recalled that he had heard the name mentioned before, as Harry came darting down the stairs with a silvery cloak that looked… floating, in his hands. Harry threw a jacket at Ron who grabbed it and put it on. Hermione came down the stairs leading to the girls' dormitory pulling on gloves and with a home made, knitted hat on her head. Ron and Harry gave her a look and she shrugged saying something in the lines of 'its cold outside'. Harry glanced at Kakashi.

"Oh," Ron began. "He's coming along, okay?"

"Sure" Hermione said and pulled the hat down further.

"Well," Harry didn't look like he wanted Kakashi to come along. "The cloak can't cover all of us."

"Oh," Ron actually looked disappointed. The way they talked about it (and by the way it looked) Kakashi figured that the cloak was some sort of invisibility device.

"It doesn't matter," Kakashi said with a shrug. "I won't need it." Hermione threw him a sideways glance and Kakashi gave an uncharacteristic smile. It was not a real, or especially happy smile and Kakashi wasn't sure if much of showed through the mask, but he hoped that it'd work anyway. Ron looked impressed.

"You're allowed to _walk around_ at night? You don't have to stay in your room?" Ron had obviously not picked up what Hermione and Harry seemed to have figured. Kakashi rolled his eyes.

"I think he means that he can make himself invisible _without_ the cloak," Harry said grimly. Perhaps, Kakashi thought, Harry believed that he was out to take his friends from him, Hermione never seemed to have anything against him (except for curious suspicion) and Ron constantly seemed impressed with what he could do. Maybe Harry didn't like him because Kakashi hadn't known who he was during their first meeting. They all were quite self centred brats, really.

"Let's go," Hermione said.

The three Gryffindors stood closer together, Ron hunched up because of his height, and Harry threw the cloak over them. Kakashi blinked. Now _that_ was impressive. That an object could hold such an ability, even their _smells_ disappeared. The sound of their footsteps didn't, though. Kakashi cringed when their steps were heard loudly as they moved out of the common room. Kakashi performed his genjutsu; a quite brilliant one. The technique didn't make him invisible, not really; it made the eye unable to focus at him, anyone who 'saw' him would just look past him and still be unaware of his presence. It didn't take even half as much chakra as real invisibility jutsus did.

Kakashi followed the sounds of the others' footsteps as they all moved through the halls. Kakashi pulled up his hitai-ate for a second to look at them with the sharingan. _Even more impressive_, even the sharingan couldn't see through the invisibility, not even a trace of chakra could be spotted. He started to wonder if that device could even fool the byakugan.

They crept further down the stairs and corridors and eventually out on the grounds, towards the cabin at the edge of the forest. It looked small from a distance, but Kakashi had found out, upon closer examination, that the house was built for someone towering well over normal height.

Kakashi looked towards the forest as they approached and felt a bit guilty, he hadn't visited the skeletal, black winged filly he sort of though of as 'his' in days now, and silently promised to bring her a bigger piece of meat than usual tomorrow.

They reached the door and Harry's hand suddenly appeared, by the looks of it floating in the air. The boy underneath the cloak knocked heavily three times on the door. A dog began to bark inside.

"Schh Fang, be quiet!" a voice was heard from within the cabin.

"Hagrid! It's us!" Harry yelled. Well, so much for discretion. Had anyone been outside at this time they would have easily discovered that someone, who wasn't supposed to be, was outside. It echoed.

"Should've figured it'd be you," the raspy voice continued as a bolt was pulled away from the door. It creaked loudly when it was slowly swung open. A figure was visible in the light of the room inside. Now _that_ was a big person. A big person that had obviously been badly beaten up. What could be seen between the bushy black hair and beard was covered in bruises and blood trickled steadily from a cut above the man's left eyebrow. Hermione gave a shout, straight into Kakashi's ear. He felt like smacking the back of her head, as he would have done if it were Obito or Rin, as payback but decided against it. "By Merlin's beard be a bit quiet!" the big man – Hagrid, exclaimed. Kakashi didn't know who 'Merlin' was, but he agreed.

"I'm sorry but, _Hagrid_!" Hermione's voice spoke. Hagrid rolled his eyes.

"Yer under cloak, ey?" It was more of a statement than a question. "Come inside now, will you," he stepped inside and the sound of three pair of footsteps could be heard following. Kakashi stepped in after them and when they had thrown of their cloak and the door was closed, he dropped the genjutsu. And was immediately attacked by a huge, slobbering tongue. Dogs were usually happy to see him but this was a bit _too_ much. The damn dog was as big as he was, probably bigger. And he wasn't actually used to this kind of welcome. His, and his father's as well for that matter, nin dogs were well behaved and trained. They would _never_ act like that.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. Fang! Stop it!" Hagrid practically growled as he grabbed the dog's collar and pulled it away from a now drool-drenched Kakashi. "Uhm…" the giant looked at him. "Who're you?" Ron cleared his throat.

"Hagrid, this is Kakashi Hatake, sort of foreign exchange student, Kakashi, this is Rubeus Hagrid." The silence was only broken by Fang's tail, swishing through the air.

"So," Hagrid eventually spoke. "Anyone want tea?" The three Gryffindors answered that they did and Kakashi simply shook his head.

A huge, still packed backpack was leaned against a chair, revealing that Hagrid had just returned. As the man moved around carefully his hair glistered with blood. It also seemed like he had broken several ribs. Hagrid had to continually reassure Hermione that the injuries were nothing to worry about.

Now Kakashi noted that the groundskeeper didn't exactly smell _human_. Or, he sort of did, but there was something else as well, a smell Kakashi couldn't place. He hadn't noticed it before because the smells of blood, dog and not-so-fresh meat hung heavily in the air. A big chunk of mentioned meat was lying on the table. Kakashi hoped that Hagrid weren't going to eat that. It was even turning greenish.

Soon four cups filled with were placed at the table where they all (except Hagrid) now sat. Fang had placed his head in Kakashi's lap and the ANBU's grey robes became even more soaked. Hagrid were standing by the kettle on the fire, making tea. Kakashi still couldn't get why the wizards hadn't taken in the use of electricity yet. Sure, they didn't _really_ need it, but it seemed to him that they could use it anyway.

"What's happened to you?" Harry asked.

"I told ye' already, nothing!" Hagrid sighed.

"Doesn't look like nothing," Ron put in

"Just leave it, I'm fine!" Hagrid straightened up and tried to smile happily, it turned into a grimace of pain instead.

"Wow, it's great to see you three again," Hagrid said. "And of course to see you fer the first time as well," he said to Kakashi. It didn't really sound like he meant it. Kakashi felt like he was intruding. "So, what've ye' all been up to this summer?" Hagrid asked expectantly.

"Hagrid, someone's attacked you!" Ron said. Hagrid gave something that sounded like a mix between a growl and a sigh.

"Fer the last time, it's nothing! I told ye' I'm fine!"

"Hagrid, you should go see madam Pomfrey." Hermione kept pushing. "Those wounds look nasty." They weren't that awful, Kakashi figured. Head wounds always bled more and looked worse than they were.

"I'll take care of it, don't worry," Hagrid said as he walked back to the table and picked up the chunk of meat. He put it over his left eye, the place of his face that was battered worst.

"That looks poisonous," Hermione said.

"It's dragon flesh, it's supposed to look like that. It actually helps against the sting." Greenish blood trickled from the meat into his beard.

"That," Kakashi said and everyone looked at him. It seemed like they had completely forgotten about his presence. "Is rotting," he concluded and pulled out a small jar of salve from a pocket. He had taken it with him because he had planned on going into the forest to train later; and it was always useful to have some medical… equipment with you, even if you almost never had use for it.

"Put this on instead," he said and pushed the small jar across the table towards Hagrid. "That meat will give you infections for sure. Hagrid lowered the piece of meat.

"Uhm… thanks," he said as he dried his hands on a dirty kitchen towel. Hagrid picked up the salve and there was another moment of silence.

"So," Harry said. "Are you going to tell us what happened?" Kakashi glanced at Harry. The boy seriously wanted Hagrid to spill _classified_ information about this 'order' in _this_ place? It had no security at all and if someone stood beneath the window they would probably easily hear everything spoken inside. Plus, Kakashi was there; it was not like he would be going around and spilling all the information if he found out, but the others didn't know that.

"I can't, it's classified." Well at least he had a brain behind all that hair.

"Hagrid, were you beaten up by the giants?" Hermione asked in a lowered voice. Hagrid dropped the jar he had tried to get open for the last minutes. Perhaps he didn't have much of a brain after all; he couldn't even open a simple childproof jar.

"Who said anything about giants? Who've ye' been talking to?" Kakashi felt like banging his head in the table, or something similar. Why the hell was a guy like this entrusted with _classified_ things? The apparent nervousness he showed just confirmed the 'giants' theory.

"We guessed it," Hermione said in an apologising tone.

"So ye' did, eh?" Hagrid gave her a stern look.

"It was kind of obvious," Ron added. Harry just gave a nod. Kakashi felt ignored.

"I've never met kid's knowing more than they should than you three," Hagrid sighed. "It's not that good, ye' know." The small smile he gave contradicted the reprimanding tone and words.

"So you've been out looking for giants?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I have," Hagrid said with a grunt. He had picked up the jar again and tried to get it open.

"And did you find them?" Hermione asked.

"Well, they ain't that hard to find, they're quite big ye' see."

"Where are they?" Ron asked eagerly.

"In the mountains." Wow, _that_ was a very… helpful, explanation.

"Then why aren't muggles…?"

"They are, it's just that they always blame their deaths on climbing accidents."

"Come on, Hagrid; tell us what you've been doing!" Ron was practically bouncing on his chair. "If you tell us what you've been doing Harry can tell you about how he got attacked by dementors!" Hagrid dropped the still closed jar again and Harry spilled out his tea.

"Whaddya mean attacked by the dementors?" Hagrid asked. Kakashi wondered the same. Weren't the dementors supposed to guard that prison of theirs? Azkan or something like that.

"You didn't know?" Hermione gasped.

"I don't know anything that's happened since I left! I was out on a secret mission, remember? I couldn't exactly have owls follow me everywhere. Bloody dementors! Ye' serious!?"

"Yeah, I am," Harry said. Kakashi wondered if he had somehow ceased to exist. A slobbering dog's tongue in the face ended his suspicion. "They showed up in Little Whinging and attacked me and my cousin, then I was expelled by the ministry…"

"_What_!?"

"…and I had to go to this hearing and stuff, but tell us about the giants first."

"Ye' were _expelled_!?"

"Tell me of your summer and I'll tell you of mine." Hagrid glared at Harry before he took a sip of his tea. It seemed that he had abandoned the salve.

"Alright, alright…" Hagrid sighed. "We left immediately after the school year had ended…"

"So madam Maxime went with you?" Hermione put in.

"Yep, the two of us went…" Hagrid continued with an explanation that pretty much told them how amazing Olympe Maxime was. There was more questions thrown out and Hagrid answered all of them. Kakashi sighed quietly. At least they didn't seem to get onto what could be called classified yet.

"… So we got into France and pretended that we were headed for Olympe's school, were we were tailed someone from the ministry, ye see. We had to take it slowly at first but managed to loose the guy at this place called Di-John or whatever…" Hermione interrupted by saying that the place was called 'Dijon' and that she'd been there on vacation. "… Anyway, after that we could risk using a little magic…" Kakashi stopped listening. If this was as bad as it was going to get, it didn't really seem necessary to even _call_ it classified. Then Hagrid began to tell them something about what Dumbledore had found out about 'You-know-who', a.k.a. Voldemort, and his followers. "…So we had to be very careful to not run into any Death Eaters…" Kakashi cleared his throat. Hagrid became quiet and looked surprised while the others looked at Kakashi, clearly annoyed.

Kakashi knew that he was supposed to gather information, but this was getting ridiculous. Who had ever considered any of these people appropriate for handling classified information? Probably Dumbledore, but still.

"You should be more careful with that _classified_ information of yours," Kakashi told Hagrid as he opened the jar of salve for him. The man just gave a 'Huh?' in response. "It is _not_ a good idea to share this kind of information I a place like _this,_" he continued and made a gesture to show that he meant the cabin before putting the now _open_ jar on the table. "And it's an even _worse_ idea to speak of things supposed to be kept secret in presence of someone you don't know if you can trust."

"Who…?" Ron asked, Kakashi rolled his eyes.

"How long have you known me? And how _well_ do you know me?" Kakashi continued.

"But you can't be involved with any of this," Hermione said calmly. And Kakashi had thought her to be the _smart_ one. "You just got into the country a few days after the start of the semester…" Kakashi sighed.

"I _said_ I got into the country a few days after the school year started, how youknow that I spoke the truth? And I think you all know that Voldemort has stretched his influence beyond England," Kakashi looked at them through a half-lidded eye. These people all needed to be taught how to handle matters of secrecy. Not that he intended to teach them.

Kakashi heard the steps outside before anyone else did. And he recognized them. _Great, the toad's coming._

"Hurry! Someone's coming! Harry, the cloak!" the three other teenagers hurried into a corner and Hagrid threw the invisibility cloak over them. Kakashi performed a quick genjutsu, more draining than the last, since this one bent the direction of the light, making it look like there was only an empty corner. Kakashi was quite impressed on how fast Hagrid managed to clear the table of everything but his own giant tea cup.

Umbridge was let into the cabin and the following conversation mostly consisted of her threatening Hagrid – Kakashi didn't really listen but that was what he figured. When she mentioned that she had seen _three_ sets of footprints in the snow outside, Kakashi could hear Hermione gasp. He rolled his eyes, even though there was no one who could see it. If you had mastered the art of water-walking using chakra, then walking in snow without leaving tracks was a peace of cake, it only took a bit more control and focus.

After her final words; "The ministry is determined to clear this school of all incompetent teachers," Umbridge left at once, slamming the door behind her.

After a while, when they were all sure that Umbridge was nowhere close, the four teens came out of hiding. The three Gryffindors stared at Kakashi who ignored them.

They told Hagrid more about the current 'situation' at Hogwarts and Hermione desperately tried to convince him to not bring anything too dangerous to the lessons in Care of Magical Creatures. On their way back to the castle she told them in an angry voice that she'd even plan all Hagrid's lessons for him if she had to.

Outside the entrance to the Gryffindor tower Kakashi tapped Hermione's shoulder as she was about to go inside.

"I," he began. He felt silly, he had just pretty much scolded them for being unable to handle classified information and now he would practically _beg_ to be allowed to be a part of their _secret_ 'club'. He didn't take a deep breath, though he really wanted to. "I would like to join DA, and figured you were the one to talk to." He was _very_ glad at the moment that he could look straight at her and didn't have to look up. Hermione gaped. He almost wished he'd had a camera at that moment. Her face looked hilarious.

"I- How? Who told you?" She obviously believed that the document she had made all the members sign was a completely foolproof method and that no one would be able to find out what they were doing. Too bad that they sucked at maintaining secrecy in any other ways. Kakashi hadn't even _tried_ to find out what they were doing.

"No one, it wasn't too hard to figure out what was going on."

"Oh… Well, I guess…"

"Don't worry; I'll sign your list."

"Okay then… So, you want to help Harry teach or something?" Right. They all thought that he had graduated already and knew this stuff.

"Well, I'm not really good at Defence Against the Dark Arts, so I rather thought that I'd learn and, besides, If you're going to fight Voldemort…" he saw her tense up at the mention of the name. Kakashi nearly rolled his eyes. What was the point of calling someone 'You Know Who' all the time? These wizards overall way of talking in code was quite amusing as well; once a member of 'the Order' came to leave a report to Dumbledore and told the old wizard something in the lines of 'We suspect that You-Know-Who will strike you-know-where at you-know-when'. Kakashi had almost laughed right out then, but had satisfied himself with a small smirk.

Hermione looked thoughtful for a moment but nodded.

"You can sign it at the next meeting, it's-" she was interrupted by Kakashi.

"I know when it is. And you shouldn't tell me in a place like this," he hesitated for a moment. "The paintings have _ears_!" he whispered in a joking tone, loud enough for anyone who could have passed by to still hear every word – including said paintings. To his surprise, Hermione laughed. He hadn't really meant to make a joke, and he had always been quite sure that he couldn't be able to make anyone laugh even if he tried to. Except for Rin, way back when they'd still been teamed up with Obito and Minato-sensei and she'd had a crush on him. And Sensei himself, but he had usually laughed a lot anyway.

Hermione said that she'd get him one of those galleons they used for informing the members of the next meeting, and Kakashi was about to tell her that she didn't have to, that he could figure out the times anyway, but then he realized that he _wanted_ one of those coins, he _wanted_ to be able to feel like one in the group. But at the same time, he didn't. He didn't belong here, he wanted to go home.

--

"What was that about?" Ron immediately said as Hermione entered the common room. Harry just glanced at her from a chair by the fire. He had seemed annoyed ever since they had walked down to Hagrid's.

"He asked if he could join DA," she glanced at Harry who was staring into the flames in the fireplace.

"And…?"

"I said he could," Hermione exhaled slowly, the angry words she'd expected from Harry never came.

"So he wanna help teaching or what?" Ron asked.

"No, he actually said that he wanted to learn." Hermione glanced over at Harry who slowly got up from his chair.

"He was right, you know," Harry said. The other two were pretty clueless as to what he meant. "We don't know if we can trust him, and now you just invite him to DA?"

"Well, I…" Hermione hesitated for a moment. "He already knew about it, and wanted to join and it seems like he's known about it for some time and not told anyone so I figured-" Harry interrupted her.

"You figured? Well at least I think that we shouldn't trust him. As he said himself."

"And that's exactly what makes me think that he _can_ trust him!" Hermione was starting to become annoyed.

"Yeah, but I don't! Perhaps you should ask us before deciding things on your own!" Ron glanced at Harry, he understood the other boy's arguments, but to become that angry was a bit exaggerated. Hermione sighed. She didn't want to fight and she was too tired for all this.

"What exactly is it that you've got against him?" she asked. "I mean, he hasn't really _done_ anything-"

"Hasn't _done_ anything? Well, remember the broomstick? And all the weird stuff he can do? He just made himself invisible without a cloak or even a proper _spell_! Besides, he gives me this creepy feeling and remember his eye? His _red_ eye? The only other person I know of with red eyes is _Him_." They all knew who he meant with 'Him'.

"He did tell us what that eye was, mate," Ron said after a few moments of silence.

"And I've actually found out some things about this 'weird stuff'." Hermione added. At this, the others looks turned to ones showing interest. "It's some kind of magic traditionally used by some people in Japan, and it's got the same source as the magic used by house-elves and goblins. Though I think he lied about that eye. My theory is that it's some sort of mark that distinguishes those who can use _both_ kinds of magic, but why Kakashi's only got one I don't know. I can't really remember all the details either, but I'll show you the book tomorrow." Harry and Ron looked thoughtful. For about a second before Ron yawned.

"Well," Harry said, it didn't seem like he trusted that explanation. "I still don't think we should trust him completely…"

"You've got it," Hermione said before she bid them goodnight and walked up the stairs to the girls' dormitory.

--

There was… _something_ in the forest, something that hadn't been there before. Kakashi noticed as soon as he came past the trees at the edge. All smaller animals had seemingly disappeared and not even the soft digging of underground rodents could be heard. The thestrals, as Kakashi had found out was the name of the skeletal horses, did not seem to care though. The only one who seemed a bit tense was the big stallion.

The filly, which wasn't so small anymore; her wither now reached Kakashi to the chest, was as lively as ever. She ran around in high speed bucking and making wild, acrobatic jumps. How she made it without getting stuck in anything with her wings was a mystery. Kakashi had never planned on naming her, but as he began to train her in a similar way as his ninken and introduced her to Pakkun, the small pug had decided to call her 'Neesan', more referring to size than age, and the name had stuck.

Kakashi made sure that Neesan stayed with the other thestrals and didn't follow him as he went to investigate whatever it was that made him sense the strange presence. It was not like sensing chakra in someone else, but somehow he was still aware of it.

He could smell it before he saw it, and realized that he _recognised_ the smell. Something apparently smelled like the scent he had picked up on Hagrid, and been unable to place.

Then, he looked down into a small clearing from a spot up in the trees, and there it was. He figured that _it_ couldn't be anything but a giant. It was _huge_, not as big as the books described them, but still. It was at least 16 feet tall. Kakashi observed it for a while; it seemed harmless enough, even childish. But just as he moved to leave his hiding-spot a goddamned _tree_ came flying towards his head. After years spent on the battlefield and in direct life- and death situations Kakashi's body didn't allow him to think for a moment. He rolled to the side, off the branch on which he had been sitting as he at the same time threw a perfectly aimed kunai towards the tree-throwing giant. He couldn't help but wonder _how_ it had known where he was, he was an ANBU, after all. An ANBU _captain_ even, one of the best of the best of the best in the village. Perhaps his skills were dulling from all the lazing around the castle he seemed to be doing. _If_ the giant hadn't been just throwing around trees at random, and happened to fling one at _that_ exact tree…

When Kakashi was entirely sure that the creature had no way of knowing where he was, he looked back at it again. The small throwing knife had hit it square between the eyes. But, obviously, the giant's skull was too thick to be pierced by such a small object, since it didn't just drop dead.

The giant sat down with a loud thud and poked carefully at the kunai which fell silently to the leaf-covered ground. A small trickle of blood found its way down the side of the humanoid being's puffy nose. Kakashi had thought that after a hit like that it would at least bleed more. It gave up a shrill wailing and tears started to stream down its face.

Before, he had thought it looked childish, but now, it was crying. He had hurt children worse than that, hell he had even _assassinated_ children, and he had been disgusted and felt guilty at first. Now he felt positively evil. And that thing wasn't even human.

As he moved back towards the castle, after he'd retrieved the kunai (the giant had been too busy crying to even notice him), he began to wonder if he could ever go back to normal. And if he would ever be able to perform his job properly again.

11


End file.
